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Barclay  &  Co. 
The  Terrible  tragedy  at 
Washington.  Assassination 
of  President  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


1 


/^ 


THE  TERRIBLE  TRAGEDY  AT  WASHINGTON. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 


,  \ 


"But  if  this  country  cannot*  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  | 
was  about  to  say  that  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  upon  this  spot  than  i 
to  surrender  it?"  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  Feb.  22,  1881. 
PUBLISHED  BY  BARCLAY  <fe  CO.,  G02  ARCH  ST.,  PHILADELPHIA 


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THE  TERRIBLE  TRAGEDY  AT  WASHINGTON. 

aSSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

LAST   HOURS   AND   DEATH-BED  SCENES    OF  THE    PRESIDENT. 
k  FULL  AND  GRAPHIC  ACCOUNT,  FROM  RELIABLE  AUTHORITY, 

OF    T^S 

GREAT  NATIONAL  CALAMITY. 

ATTEMPT  OF  THE  CONSPIRATORS  TO  MURDER 

SECRETARY  SEWARD,  VICE-PRESIDENT  JOHNSON,  AND  THE  WHOLE  CABINET. 
A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH,  WITH 

A.    CORRECT    LIKENESS 

IN  ANY  WAY  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  LAMENTABLE  EVENT. 

TO   WHtCH   IS   AI>DED 

AN    AUTHENTIC    HISTORY    OF    ASSASSINS     AND    THE     DISTIN 

GUISHED    PERSONAGES    OF    THE   WORLD   WHO 

HAVE    FALLEN    BY  THEIR    HANDS. 


■X 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED    BY    BARCLAY    &    CO. 

602    ARCH    STREET. 


Diagram  showing  the  location  of  Ford's  Theatre. 


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Entered  according  to  Act  of  Conjp-eai,  in  the  year  1865,  by 
BARCLAT    A    CO., 

1q   tb«  CWk'g  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United   States,  in  »nd  for  the  Eastern  Diatrict  of 

Pfnnsjlvania. 


THE  TERRIBLE  TRAGEDY  AT  WASHINGTON. 

ASSASSLUTION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOIK 


4    >■<>■»» 


THE   ASSASSINATION  OP  THE    PRESIDENT.— A  CAREFULLY 

PLANNED  CONSPIRACY. 

A  CRIME  was  perpetrated  in  Washington  on  Friday  night,  April  14th,  1865,  that 
will  startle  not  only  the  people  of  tho  United  States,  but  the  whole  civilized  world. 
The  President  of  the  United  States,  sitting  with  his  wife  in  a  box  in  one  of  the 
Washington  Theatres,  was  shot  by  an  assassin,  who,  by  the  only  exclamation  he 
appears  to  have  uttered,  must  be  one  of  the  secessionists  whom  the  President  has 
been  most  earnestly  endeavoring  to  protect  from  the  just  retribution  due  to  them 
for  their  agency  in  their  wicked  rebellion.  During  a  pause  in  one  of  the  scenes  the 
assassin  shot  the  President  in  the  head,  making  a  mortal  wound,  and  then  flour- 
ishing a  drawn  dagger,  he  exclaimed,  "  Sic  semper  Tyrannis,'"*  (the  motto  of  the 
State  of  Virginia),  rushed  out  of  the  back  of  the  theatre,  mounted  a  horse  in  wait- 
ing, and  escaped.  The  crime  appears  not  to  have  been  the  only  one  of  the  night, 
for  a  further  despatch  announces  that  an  attempt  was  also  made  to  assassinate 
the  Secretary  of  State.  At  first  blush,  this  murderous  business  would  appear  to 
be  the  work  of  a  madman,  but  the  particulars  of  the  fearful  outrage  perpetrated 
on  the  President,  and  the  simultaneous  attack  on  Mr.  Seward,  show  it  to  have 
been  a  carefully  planned  conspiracy,  in  which  a  number  of  murderous  confeder- 
ates must  have  been  concerned. 

This  will  be  startling  and  terrible  news  to  the  country  now  in  the  midst  of  its 
rejoicings  over  the  near  prospect  of  peace,  and  ranging  itself  under  the  lead  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  upon  the  side  of  mercy,  forbearance  and  pardon  towards  those  whose 
murderous  partisans  have  struck  him  his  death-blow.  Nothing  short  of  the  in- 
terposition of  Providence  working  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people  will  be  able  to 
avert  the  instinctive  impulse  of  the  nation  to  punish  this  crime  by  some  signal 
act  of  retribution  that  it  sickens  the  heart  to  contemplate. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  rational  motive  to  the  villains  concerned  in  the  mur- 
derous plot.  Of  all  men  in  the  United  States,  the  traitors  and  rebels  who  have 
been  in  arms  for  four  years  in  their  effort  to  destroy  the  Republic,  owe  most  to 
the  kindness  of  heart,  the  conscientious  endeavor  to  be  just,  and  the  resolute  pur- 
pose to  restore  the  fraternal  relations  of  the  people  of  the  two  sections  of  the 
country  which  actuated  Mr.  Lincoln  from  the  day  of  his  first  inauguration  to  his 
dying  hour.     In  every  stage  of  the  war  which  they  brought  on  by  their  unhal- 

*  Thus  be  it  with  all  tyrants. 

(21) 


22  THE  ASSASSINATION    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

lewed  plots,  he  has  been  their  powerful  friend,  protecting  them  at  all  times  from 
those  men  in  hii  own  party  who.  recommended,  from  the  start,  that  they  should 
be  dealt  with  according  to  the  severest  dictates  of  stern  and  relentless  justice. 
At  any  time  since  1861,  had  almost  any  other  Republican  than  Abraham  Lincoln 
been  invested  with  his  power  and  beset  with  the  appeals  that  were  made  to  him 
for  retributive  justice  upon  the  men  who  have  wantonly  and  wickedly  drenched 
the  land  in  blood,  many  a  traitor,  now  living  as  securely  as  if  his  great  crime 
liad  never  been  meditated,  would  have  swung  from  the  gallows,  which  has  no 
office  if  not  made  for  such  as  they.  Even  at  the  hour  when  his  death-blow  was 
struck,  he  was  standing,  like  a  minister  of  mercy,  appealing  to  the  country  to  sus- 
tain him  in  the  univereal  pardon  and  oblivion  in  which  he  desired  to  sink  their 
crimes.  And  yet  the  fiends  in  the  form  of  men  whom  he  was  thus  guarding  from 
punishment,  struck  him  down !  What  depth  of  damnation  is  there  deep  enough 
for  devils  such  as  these  ? 

"We  do  not  pause  at  this  late  hour  to  enlarge  upon  the  terrible  calamity  to  the 
nation,  involved  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  death,  in  the  crisis  through  which  the  country 
is  now  passing.  We  lose  as  sincere  a  patriot  and  as  upright  a  magistrate  as  ever 
blessed  the  land.  Even  those  who  have  been  his  bitterest  foes  will  now  admit 
this,  for  they  have  lost  a  friend  who  has  stood  by  them  in  their  direct  need.  He 
has  borne  himself  "  clear  in  his  great  office,"  and  may  heaven  send  us  one  who 
will  guide  the  country  through  its  terrible  trials  as  safely  and  as  conscientiously 
as  he  made  it  the  object  of  his  Ufe  to  do. 


OFTICIAL   GAZETTE. 

WasMngton,  April  1.5 — 1.30,  A.  M. — MAjOR-GEfTKRAL  Dix. — ^This  evening,  about 
9.30  P.  M..  at  Ford's  Theatre,  the  President,  while  sitting  in  his  private  box  with 
Mrs.  Lincoln,  Miss  Harris," and  Major  Rathburn,  was  shot  by  an  assassin,  who  sud- 
denly entered  the  box  and  approached  behind  the  President. 

The  assassin  then  leaped  upon  the  stage,  brandishing  a  large  dagger  or  knife^ 
and  made  his  escape  in  the  rear  of  the  theatre. 

The  pistol  ball  entered  the  back  of  the  President's  head  and  penetrated  nearly 
through  the  head.  The  wound  is  mortal.  The  President  has  been  insensible 
ever  since  it  was  inflicted,  and  is  now  dying. 

About  the  same  hour,  an  assassin,  whether  the  same  or  another,  entered  Mr. 
.Seward's  house,  and,  under  pretence  of  having  a  prescription,  was  shown  to  the 
Secretary's  sick  chamber.  The  Secretary  was  in  bed,  a  nurse  and  Miss  Seward 
with  him.  The  assassin  immediately  rushed  to  the  bed,  inflicted  one  or  two 
.<(tabs  on  the  throat,  and  two  on  the  face.  It  is  hoped  the  wounds  may  not  be 
mortal.     My  apprehension  is  that  they  will  prove  fatal. 

The  noise  alarmed  Mr.  Frederick  Seward,  who  was  in  an  adjoining  room,  and 
hastened  to  the  door  of  his  father's  room,  where  he  met  the  assassin,  who  inflicted 
\ipon  him  one  or  more  dangerous  wounds.  The  recovery  of  Frederick  Seward  is 
doubtful. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  President  will  live  through  the  night. 

Gen.  Grant  and  wife  were  advertised  to  be  at  the  theatre  this  evening,  but  he 
started  to  Burlington  at  6  o'clock,  P.  M.  At  a  cabinet  meeting,  at  which  General 
Grant  was  present,  to-day,  the  subject  of  the  state  of  the  country  and  the  pros- 
pects of  a  speedy  peace  were  discussed. 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  23 

The  President  was  very  cheerful  and  hopeful.  He  spoke  very  kindly  of  General 
Lee  and  others  of  the  confederacy,  and  the  establishment  of  the  government  of 
Virginia. 

All  the  members  of  ttie  cabinet,  except  Mr.  Seward,  are  now  in  attendance  upon 
the  President.  I  have  seen  Mr.  Seward,  but  he  and  Frederick  were  both  tmcon- 
scious.  Enwijf  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  CONDITION. 

Washington,  April  15,  2.30  A.  M. — The  President  is  still  alive,  but  is  growing 
weaker.  The  ball  is  lodged  in  his  braiuj  three  inches  from  where  it  entered  the 
skull.  He  remains  insensible  and  his  condition  is  utterly  hopeless.  The  Vice- 
President  has  been  to  see  him,  but  all  company  except  the  Cabinet,  his  family, 
and  a  few  friends,  are  rigidly  excluded. 

tiarge  crowds  still  continue  in  the  street  as  near  to  the  house  as  the  line  of 
guards  will  allow. 


SECOND  OmCIAL  GAZETTE. 

Washington  April  15,  3  A.  M. — Major-General  Dix,  New  York. — The  Pre»i- 
dent  still  breathes,  but  is  quite  insensible,  as  he  has  been  ever  since  he  was  shot. 
He  evidently  did  not  see  the  person  who  shot  him,  but  was  looking  on  the  stage, 
as  he  was  approached  behind. 

Mr.  Seward  has  rallied,  and  it  is  hoped  may  live.  Frederick  Seward's  condition 
is  very  critical.  The  attendant  who  was  present  was  stabbed  through  the  lungs, 
and  is  not  expected  to  live.     The  wounds  of  Major  Seward  are  not  serious. 

Investigation  strongly  indicates  J.  Wilkes  Booth  as  the  assassin  of  the  Presi- 
dent. Whether  it  was  the  same  or  a  different  person  that  attempted  'to  murder 
Mr.  Seward  remains  in  doubt. 

Chief  Justice  Carter  is  engaged  in  taking  the  evidence.  Every  exertion  has 
been  made  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  murderer.  His  horse  has  been  found  in 
the  road  near  Washington.  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War. 


THE  ASSASSINS. 


THIRD  OFFICIAL  GAZETTE. 

Washington  April  15,  4.10,  A.  M. — Major-General  Dix,  New  York.  The 
President  continues  insensible  and  is  sinking. 

Secretary  Seward  remains  without  change, 

Frederick  Seward's  skull  is  fractured  in  two  places,  besides  a  severe  cut  upon 
the  head.  The  attendant  is  still  alive  but  hopeless.  Major.  Seward's  wounds  are 
are  not  dangerous. 

It  is  now  ascertained,  with  reasonable  certainty,  that  two  assassins  were  engaged 
in  the  horrible  crime,  J.  Wilkes  Booth  being  the  one  that  shot  the  President. 
The  other  is  a  companion  of  his,  whose  name  is  not  known. 

It  appears  from  a  letter  found  in  Booth's  trunk,  that  the  raui-der  was  planned 


24  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

before  the  4th  of  March,  but  fell  through  then  because  the  accomplice  backed  ont 
until  "  Richmond  could  be  heard  from." 

Booth  and  his  accomplice  were  at  the  livery  stable  at  six  o'clock  last  evening, 
and  left  there  about  ten  o'clock,  or  shortly  before  that  hour.  It  vsrould  seem  that 
for  several  days  they  have  been  seeking  their  chance,  but  for  some  unknown 
reason  it  was  not  carried  into  effect  until  last  night.  One  of  them  has  evidently 
made  his  way  to  Baltimore ;  the  other  has  not  yet  been  traced. 

Edwin  M.  Stanton  Secretary  of  War. 


OUR  SPECIAL  CORRESPOITDENT'S  ACCOUNT. 

Washington,  April  14. — The  city  is  full  of  the  wildest  excitement.  President 
Lincoln,  attended  by  his  wife,  was  at  Ford's  Theatre  this  evening.  About  half- 
past  ten,  while  the  performance  was  going  on,  a  man  who  had  been  seen  standing 
near  the  door  of  the  President's  private  box,  entered  it,  and  shot  the  President 
in  the  head.  The  ball  entered  the  eye  and  came  out  back  of  his  head.  Immedi- 
ately upon  firing  the  assassin  jumped  from  the  box  on  to  the  stage  of  the  theatre  ; 
as  he  jumped  he  held  a  long  dirk  in  his  hand  and  shouted  "  Sic  semper  Tyrannis." 
As  the  assassin  struck  the  stage  he  missed  his  footing  and  fell  into  the  orchestra, 
but  quickly  recovering  his  feet  he  jumped  upon  the  stage,  and  brandishing  his 
dirk  ran  behind  the  scenes  and  made  safe  his  escape  into  a  back  alley  of  the 
theatre,  where  his  horse  was  in  readiness  for  him.  Mounting  his  horse,  he  rode 
rapidly  away,  no  one  as  yet  knows  whither.  No  pen  can  describe  the  excitement 
of  the  moment.  The  whole  audience  was  petrified  with  horror,  and  not  until  the 
assassin  had  disappeared  behind  the  scenes  did  men  regain  their  senses.  In  an 
instant  hundreds  rushed  upon  the  stage,  crying  for  vengeance  on  the  villain,  but 
he  had  escaped.  The  President,  upon  being  shot,  told  his  wife  he  was  dying 
and  bade  her  good-by.  He  was  quickly  removed  from  the  theatre  by  his  friends, 
and  taken  to  a  house  opposite,  where  a  more  critical  examination  was  made  of 
his  wound  by  the  surgeons,  who  pronounced  it  very  dangerous,  but  possibly  not 
mortal.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  in  great  agony,  accompanied  her  husband  and  remained 
with  him  during  these  trying  moments.  As  the  sad  news  spread  over  the  cily 
thousands  rushed  for  the  scene  of  the  tragedy,  and  the  house  was  literally  be- 
sieged by  most  anxious  inquirers  after  President  Lincoln's  injuries.  As  the 
moments  passed  by  the  question  was  repeatedly  asked,  "  Is  President  Ijincoln 
dead?"  "  No,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  there  is  no  hope  of  his  recovery."  At  about 
a  quarter  of  twelve  the  physician  in  attendance  annoimced  from  the  steps  of  the 
house,  that  the  President  was  dead.  Slowly  the  crowd  began  to  disperse,  and  the 
sorrowful  news  passed  from  lip  to  lip.  Various  opinions  are  entertained  as  to 
who  is  the  assassin.  Suspicions  rest  upon  a  certain  actor,  who  was  seen  in  the 
theatre  near  the  President's  box  just  before  the  shot  was  fired,  but  in  the  excite- 
ment of  the  moment  I  prefer  to  mention  no  name.  The  revolver  and  hat  of  the 
assassin  were  picked  up  on  the  stage,  and  may  lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  mur- 
derer. About  the  same  time  the  President  was  assassinated,  a  man  entered  the 
house  of  Secretary  Seward,  under  the  pretence  of  having  an  important  prescrip- 
tion from  his  physician.  Entering  the  Secretary's  room  imattendcd,  he  cut  his 
throat  from  ear  to  ear.  The  Secretary's  son,  hearing  the  scuflBe,  rushed  in,  but 
was  met  by  the  villain,  who  cut  him  in  the  face,  and  in  the  arm,  and  rushing 
down-stairs  made  his  escape;  not  before,  however,  he  had  met  Major  Seward, 


THE  ASSASSINATION-  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLIT.  25 

second  son  of  the  Secretary,  who  attempted  to  arrest  him,  but  was  struck  on  tlie 
head  with  a  billy,  but  not  seriously  injured. 

At  this  late  hour  I  am  informed  by  the  Secretary's  physician  that  no  arteries 
have  been  struck,  and  that  the  Secretary  will  recover. 

General  Grant  fortunately  left  for  the  North  tliis  afternoon,  "and,  doubtless  by 
his  absence,  has  escaped  the  machinations  of  conspirators. 

Secretaries  Stanton  and  Wells  also  escaped  the  plot,  as  well  as  the  remaining; 
members  of  the  Cabinet 

These  are  the  briefest  details  of  this  tragic  night.  One  arrest  was  made  in  thij 
theatre  of  a  mait  who  said  he  knew  all  about  the  plot,  but  as  yet  the  assassins 
have  not  been  arrested.  It  is  believed  that  a  deep  conspiracy  is  on  foot  to  asaas^ 
sinate  the  remaining  leading  members  of  the  Government. 

It  is  now  12.30,  and  the  excitement  has  not  abated  in  the  least ;  crowds  are 
everywhere  and  the  whole  city  is  in  the  streets. 


A.lSrOTHER    A-COOXJNT. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


ATTEMPTED  MUEDEE  OF  THE  SEOEETAEY  OF  STATE 


NO  HOPE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENT'S  LIFE: 


ESCAPE  OF  THE  ASSASSINS, 

Washington,  April  14. — The  President  of  the  United  States  was  shot  while  at- 
tending at  Ford's  Theatre  to-night.     It  is  feared  that  the  wounds  are  mortal. 

THE  PARTICULARS. 

Washington,  April  14. — President  Lincoln  and  his  wife,  together  with  other 
friends,  this  evening  visited  Ford's  Theatre  for  the  purpose  of  witnessing  tho 
performance  of  the  "  American  Cousin." 

It  was  announced  in  the  papers  that  General  Grant  would  also  be  present,  but 
tiiat  gentleman  instead  took  the  late  train  of  cars  for  New  Jersey. 

The  theatre  was  densely  crowded,  and  everybody  seem  delighted  with  the 
scene  before  them. 

During  the  third  act,  and  while  there  was  a  temporary  pause  for  one  of  tlit? 
actor^  to  enter,  the  sharp  report  of  a  pistol  was  heard,  which  merely  attracte<l 
attention,  but  suggested  nothing  serious,  until  a  man  rushed  to  the  front  of  the 
President's  box  waving  a  long  dagger  in  his  right  hand,  and  excliiiniing.  Sic  sem- 
per Tyrannis,  and  immediately  leaped  from  the  box  which  was:  of  the  second 
tier,  to  the  stage  beneath,  and  ran  across  to  the  opposite  side,  thiis  making  his 
escape,  amid  the  bewilderment  of  the  audience,  from  the  rgar  of  the  theatre  and 
mounting  a  horse  fled. 

The  screams  of  Mrs.  Lincoln' first  disclosed  the  fact  to  the  audience  that  the 
President  had  been  shot,  then  all  present  rose  to  their  feet;  rusliing  towards  tha 
stage,  many  exclaiming-,  "  Hang  him  !  hang  him  1" 


26  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

The  excitement  was  one  of  the  wildest  possible  description,  and  of  course  there 
was  an  abrupt  termination  of  the  theatrical  performance. 

There  was  a  rush  towards  the  presidential  box,  when  cries  were  heard,  "  Stand 
back  !"  "  Give  him  air  1"  "  Has  any  one  stimulants  ?"  On  a  hasty  examination 
it  was  found  that  the  President  had  been  shot  through  the  head  above  and  back 
of  the  temporal  bone,  and  that  some  of  the  brain  was  oozing  out. 

He  was  removed  to  a  private  house  opposite  to  the  theatre,  and  the  Surgeon 
General  of  the  Army  and  other  surgeons  were  sent  for  to  attend  to  his  condition. 

On  an  examination  of  the  private  box,  blood  was  discovered  on  the  back  of 
the  cushioned  rocking-chair  on  which  the  President  had  been  sitting,  also  on  the 
partition  and  on  the  floor.  A  common  single-barrelled  pocket-pistol  was  found 
on  the  carpet. 

A  military  guard  was  placed  in  front  of  the  private  residence  to  which  the 
President  had  been  conveyed. 

An  immense  crowd  gathered  in  front  of  it,  all  deeply  anxious  to  learn  the  con- 
dition of  the  President.  It  had  been  previously  announced  that  the  wound  was 
mortal,  but  all  hoped  otherwise.     The  shock  to  the  community  was  terrible. 

At  midnight  the  Cabinet,  with  Messrs.  Summer,  Colfax  and  Farnsworth,  Judge 
Carter,  Govenor  Oglesby,  Gen.  Meigs,  Col.  Hay,  and  a  few  personal  friends,  with 
Surgeon-General  Barnes  and  his  medical  associates,  were  around  his  bedside. 


THE  PRESIDENT  IN  A  DYING  CONDITION. 

Midnight. — The  President  was  in  a  state  of  syncope,  totally  insensible  and 
breathing  hardly,  the  blood  oozing  from  the  wound  at  the  back  of  his  head. 

The  Surgeons  were  exhausting  every  possible  effort  of  medical  skill,  but  all 
hope  was  gone. 

The  parting  of  his  family  with  the  dying  President  is  too  sad  for  description. 

The  President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  did  not  start  to  the  theatre  till  fifteen  minutes 
after  8  o'clock.  Speaker  Colfax  was  at  the  White  House  at  the  time,  and  the 
President  stated  to  him  that  he  was  going,  although  Mrs.  Lincoln  had  not  been 
well,  because  the  papers  had  advertised  that  Gen,  Grant  and  they  were  to  be 
present,  and  as  Gen.  Grant  had  gone  North,  he  did  not  wish  the  audience  to  be 
disappointed. 

The  President  went  with  apparent  reluctance,  and  urged  Mr.  Colfax  to  go  with 
him ;  but  that  gentleman  had  made  other  engagements,  and,  with  Mr.  Ashmun, 
of  Massachusetts,  bade  him  good-bye. 


\ 


ATTEMPED  ASSASSINATION  OF  SECRETARY   SEWARD. 

When  the  excitement  at  the  theatre  was  at  its  wildest  height,  reports  were  cir- 
culated that  Secretary  Seward  had  also  been  assassinated.  On  reaching  this  gen- 
tleman's residence  a  crowd  and  military  guard  were  found  at  the  door,  and  on 
entering  it  was  ascertained  that  the  reports  were  based  upon  truth ;  everybody 
there  was  so  excited  that  scarcely  an  intelligible  account  could  be  gathered,  but 
the  facts  are  substantially  as  follows  : 

At  ten  o'clock  P.M.  a  man  rang  the  bell,  and  the  call  having  been  answered  by 
a  colored  servant,  he  said  he  had  come  from  Dr.  Verdi,  Secretary  Seward's  family 
physician,  with  a  prescription,  at  the  same  time  holding  in  his  hand  a  small  piece 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF  PRESIDENT   LINCOLN,  27 

of  folded  paper,  and  saying  in  answer  to  a  refusal,  that  he  must  see  the  Secretary, 
as  he  was  entrusted  with  a  particular  direction  concerning  the  medicine.  He 
Btill  insisted  on  going  up,  although  repeatedly  informed  that  no  one  could  enter 
the  chamber.  The  man  pushed  the  servant  aside  and  walked  quickly  to  the 
Secretary's  room,  and  was  there  met  by  Mr.  Frederick  W.  Seward,  of  whom  he 
demanded  to  see  the  Secretary,  making  the  same  representation  which  he  did  to 
the  servant.  What  further  passed  in  the  way  of  colloquy  is  not  known,  but  the 
man  struck  him  in  the  head  with  a  hilly,  severely  injuring  the  skull  and  felling 
him  almost  senseless.  The  assassin  then  rushed  into  the  chamber  and  attacked 
Major  Seward,  Paymaster  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  Mr.  Hansell,  a  Mes- 
senger of  the  State  Department  and  two  male  nurses,  disabling  them  all.  '  He 
then  rushed  upon  the  Secretary,  who  was  lying  in  bed  in  the  same  room,  and  in- 
flicted three  stabs  in  the  neck,  but  severing,  it  is  hoped,  no  arteries. 

The  assassin  then  rushed  down-stairs,  mounted  his  horse  at  the  door  and  rode 
ofiF  before  an  alarm  could  be  sounded,  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  assassin  of 
the  President.  It  is  believed  the  injuries  of  the  Secretary  are  not  fatal,  nor  those 
of  the  others,  although  both  the  Secretary  and  the  Assistant  Secretary  are  very 
seriously  injured. 

Secretary  Stanton  and  Welles,  and  other  prominent  officers  of  the  Government, 
called  at  Secretary  Seward's  house  to  inquire  into  his  condition,  and  there  hear- 
ing of  the  assassination  of  the  President,  proceeded  to  the  house  where  he  was 
lying,  exhibiting,  of  course,  intense  anxiety  and  solicitude. 

An  immense  crowd  was  gathered  in  front  of  the  President's  house,  and  a  strong 
guard  also  stationed  there,  many  persons  evidently  supposing  that  he  would  be 
brought  to  his  home. 

The  entire  city  to-night  presented  a  scene  of  wild  excitement,  accompanied  by 
violent  expressions  of  indignation  and  the  profoundest  sorrow.     Many  shed  tear.s. 

The  military  authorities  have  despatched  patrols  in  every  direction,  in  order, 
if  possible,  to  arrest  the  assassin,  while  the  Metropolitan  Police  are  alike  vigilant 
for  the  same  purpose. 

The  attack,  both  at  the  theatre  and  at  Secretary  Seward's  house,  took  place  at 
about  the  same  hour,  (ten  o'clock),  thus  showing  a  preconcerted  plan  to  assassi- 
nate those  gentlemen.  Some  evidence  of  the  guilt  of  the  party  who  attacked  tTie 
President  are  in  possession  of  the  police. 

Vice-President  Johnson  is  in  the  city,  and  his  hotel  quarters  are  guarded  by 
troops. 

We  learn  that  Gen.  Grant  received  intelligence  of  this  sad  calamity  soon  after 
midnight,  when  at  Walnut  street  wharf,  on  his  way  to  Bm-lington,  N.  J. 


THE    PRESIDENT'S    LAST    HOURS. 

Washington,  April  15 — 11  A.M. — At  twenty  minutes  past  7  o'clock  the  Presi- 
dent breathed  his  last,  closing  his  eyes  as  if  falling  to  sleep,  and  his  coimlenance 
assuming  an  expression  of  perfect  serenity.     There  were  no  indications  of  pain 
and  it  was  not  known  that  he  was  dead  until  the  gradually  decreasing  respiration 
ceased  altog^her. 

The  Rev.  D.  A.  Gurley  of  the  New  York  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  imme- 
diately on  its  being  ascertained  that  life  was  extinct,  knelt  at  the  bedside,  and 
offered  an  impressive  prayer,  which  was  responded  to  by  all  present. 

Dr.  Gurley  then  proceeded  to  the  front  parlor,  where  Mrs.  Lincoln,  Captain 


^ 


28  THE    ASSASSINATION    OF  PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Robert  Lincoln,  Mr.  John  Hay,  the  private  secretary,  and  others,  were  waiting, 
where  ho  again  offered  prayer  for  the  consolation  of  the  family. 

The  following  minutes,  taken  by  Dr.  Abbott,  show  the  condition  of  the  Presi- 
dent throughout  the  night : 

11  P.  M.,  pulse  44 ;  11.05  P.  M.,  pulse  45,  and  growing  weaker ;  11.10  P.  M.,  pulse 
45  ;  11.15  P.  M.,  pulse  42  ;  11.20  P.  M.,  pulse  45,  respiration  27  to  29  ;  11.25  P.  M., 
pulse  42  ;  11.32  P.  M.,  pulse  48  and  full ;  11.40  P.  M.,  pulse  45  ;  11.55  P.  M.,  pulse 
4:"),  respiration  22  ;  12.8  P.  M.,  respiration  22  ;  12.15  P.  M.,  respiration  21,  ecchy- 
mosis  both  eyes;  12.30  P.M.,  pulse  54;  12.32  P.  M.,  pulse  60;  12.35  P.k.,  pulse 
66;  12.40  P.M.,  pulse  60,  right  eye  much  swollen  and  ecchymosis  ;  12.45  P.M., 
pulse  70,  respiration  27  ;  12.55  P.  M.,  pulse  80,  struggling  motion  of  arms  ;  1  A.  M., 
pulse  86,  respiration  30  ;  1.30  A.  M.,  pulse  95,  appearing  easier  ;  1.45  A.  M.,  pulse  86, 
very  quiet ;  respiration  irregular ;  Mrs.  Lincoln  present ;  2.10  A.  M.,  Mrs.  Lincoln 
retired  with  Robert  Lincoln  to  an  adjoining  room ;  2.30  A.  M.,  the  President  is  very 
quiet;  pulse  54;  respiration  28 ;  2.52  A.  M.,  pulse  48;  respiration  30 ;  3A.M., 
visited  again  by  Mrs.  Lincoln ;  3.25  A-  M.,  respiration  24,  and  regular  ;  3.35  A.  M.. 
prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley  ;  4  A.  M.,  respiration  26,  and  regular  ;  415  A.  M., 
pulse  60  ;  respiration  25  ;  5.50  A.  M.,  respiration  28,  and  regular  sleeping ;  6  A.  M., 
pulse  failing;  respiration  28;  6.30  A.M.,  still  failing  and  labored  breathing;^ 7 
A.  M.,  symptoms  of  immediate  diaaolution ;  7.22  A.M.,  death. 


■^  ♦  ♦  »  > 


THE     .i^SS.i^SSIISrA.TIO]Sr. 


ITS  SECRET  HISTORY. 


BOOTH'S   ACTIONS   PEEVIOUS   TO   THE   MURDER. 


} 


Washington,  April  17. — Developments  are  being  made  hourly,  showing  that 
the  plot  to  assassinate  the  President  and  Cabinet  was  planned  long  ago,  and  that 
the  conspirators  were  only  waiting  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  carry  out  their 
designs. 

That  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  were  the  originators  of  the  conspiracy 
there  is  no  doubt,  and  it  is  also  assured  that  the  4th  of  March  was  fixed  for  the 
commission  of  the  deed. 

The  assassination  of  the  President  throws  light  upon  much  which  had  seemed 
strange  in  the  conduct  of  Booth  during  the  past  winter,  and  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  in  murdering  Mr.  Lincoln  he  was  complying  with  an  obligation 
of  the  Order  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  which  obligation  has  fallen  to  him 
by  lot. 

During  the  last  two  months  he  had  seemed  to  be  completely  absorbed  in  some 
project,  which  none  of  his  friends  could  fathom.  In  the  midst  of  associates  he 
would  frequently  remain  silent ;  or,  if  conversing,  would  talk  in  a  pointless  way, 
M  if  thinking  of  some  great  trouble. 

On  the  4th  of  March  his  conduct  was  particularly  noticed  a»  being  unusually 
strange. 

Dui-ing  the  morning,   his  nervous   actions  attracted   considerable   attention 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  29 

among  his  acquaintances,  from  among  whom  he  siiddenly  disappeared,  and  was 
not  seen  again  until  a  friend  found  him  standing  on  the  embankment  at  the  north 
wing  of  the  capitol,  near  which  spot  the  President  would  necessarily  pass. 

Booth  was  dressed  in  a  slouch  suit,  with  his  pants  tucked  into  the  tops  of  his 
boots,  and  an  old  felt  hat  drawn  over  his  face.  His  friend  hailed  him  two  or 
three  times,  receiving  no  reply,  and  finally  went  up  where  Booth  was  standing, 
when  the  latter  for  the  first  time  manifested  his  recognition  of  the  gentleman,  his 
manner  conveying  an  impression  that  he  did  not  wish  to  be  recognized. 

As  the  President  passed,  he  turned  away  with  his  friend  as  if  disappointed  by 
the  absence  of  some  one,  and  preserved  throughout  the  day  a  moody  silence. 

On  Friday  last  he  was  about  the  National  Hotel  as  usual,  and  strolled  up  and 
down  the  Avenue  several  times.  During  one  of  the  strolls  he  stopped  at  the 
Kirkwood  House,  and  sent  into  Vice-President  Johnson  a  card,  upon  which  was 
written : — 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  disturb  you.    Are  you  in  ? 

"J.  Wilkes  Booth.'* 

A  gentleman  of  Booth's  acquaintance  at  this  time  met  him  in  front  of  the 
Kirkwood  House,  and  in  the  conversation  which  followed  made  some  allusion  to 
Booth's  business,  and  in  a  jesting  way  asked,  "  What  made  him  so  gloomy  ?  had 
he  lo^  another  thousand  in  oil  ?" 

Booth  replied  that  he  had  lost  considerably  by  the  freshet ;  that  he  had  been 
hard  at  work  that  day,  and  was  about  to  leave  Washington  never  to  return. 

Just  then  a  boy  came  out  and  said  to  Booth — "  Yes,  he  is  in  his  room." 

Upon  which  the  gentleman  walked  on,  supposing  Booth  would  enter  the  hotel. 

About  7  o'clock,  on  Friday  evening,  he  came  down  from  his  room  at  the  Na- 
tional, and  was  spoken  to  by  several  concerning  his  paleness,  which  he  said  pro- 
ceeded from  indisposition.  Just  before  leaving  he  asked  the  clerk  if  he  was  not 
going  to  Ford's  theatre,  and  added,  "  There  will  be  some  very  Jlrie  acting  there  to- 
night /" 

Mr.  Sessford,  ticket  agent  at  the  theatre,  noticed  Booth  as  he  passed  in,  and 
shortly  after  the  latter  entered  the  restaurant  next  the  theatre  and  in  a  hurried 
manner  called  for  "  Brandy  I  brandy  I  brandy  I"  rapping  at  the  same  time  on 
the  bar. 

Yesterday  a  great  coat,  stained  with  blood,  and  which  had  evidently  been  worn 
as  an  overcoat,  was  found  near  Fort  Bunker  Hill,  just  back  of  Glenwood  Ceme- 
tery. In  the  pocket  was  a  false  moustache,  a  pair  of  riding  gloves,  and  a  slip  of 
paper  Upon  which  was  written  : — "  Mary  C.  Gardner,  419." 

This  is  supposed  to  have  been  worn  by  the  man  who  attacked  Secretary  Seward, 
although  the  weigjbt  of  the  evidence  indicates  that  all  the  conspirators  took  the 
same  route,  that  of  the  Navy  Yard  bridge. 

This  morning  Detective  Kelly  and  a  detail  of  patrolmen  of  the  Second  Ward, 
by  order  of  Judge  Olin,  proceeded  to  the  house  of  MoUie  Turner,  corner  of 
Thirteenth  street  and  Ohio  avenue,  and  arrested  all  the  inmates,  from  the  mistress 
to  the  cook — eight  in  all — and  took  them  to  the  police  headquarters,  to  be  held 
as  witnesses.  This  is  the  house  where  Booth  spent  much  of  his  time.  Ella 
Turner,  the  woman  who  attempted  suicide,  being  his  kept  mistress. 

Secretary  Seward  is  doing  well  to-day,  and  the  indications  are  highly  favorable 
for  the  recovery  of  Frederick  Seward,  who  has  somewhat  revived  from  his  coma- 
tose state.     The  assassins  are  still  at  large. 


80  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PKESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

JOHN  SUBRATT. 

From  the  description  given  of  his  assailant  by  Mr.  Seward,  suspicion  has  been 
fastened  upon  a  young  man  named  John  Surratt,  -whose  residence  is  about 
ten  miles  south  of  Washington,  on  the  Bryantown  road.  His  father  was  well- 
known  and  esteemed  up  to  the  time  of  his  sudden  death  from  apoplexy,  within  a 
year  past.  He  owned  a  large  country  store,  and  held  the  ofiBce  of  Postmaster  at 
the  time  of  his  demise.  Young  Surratt  is  reported  to  have  been  an  active  sym- 
pathizer m  the  Rebel  cause,  though  by  no  means  a  man  of  sufficient  daring  to 
have  planned  the  deeds  with  which  his  name  has  been  unhappily  associated. 

His  connection  with  thp  transaction,  if  such  he  should  be  found  to  have  had, 
even  more  than  Booth's,  is  regarded  as  indicative  of  the  existence  of  a  secret  and 
powerful  organization.  From  the  lower  part  of  Maryland  ever  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  a  regular  system  of  intercourse  has  been  kept  up  across  thu 
Potomac,  and  there  have  been  evidences,  from  time  to  time,  going  to  show  that 
the  Maryland  adherents  to  the  Confederate  cause  were  exceedingly  well  posted  as 
to  the  state  of  affairs  in  Richmond  and  beyond. 

There  was,  for  a  long  while,  a  very  efficiently  worked  underground  railway 
system  between  the  Rebel  capital  and  the  vicinity  of  Port  Tobacco  and  Leonard- 
town,  Maryland,  and  not  only  correspondence  but  light  freight  and  passengers 
were  transferred  over  the  secret  route.  According  to  the  letters  found  in  Booth's 
trunk,  at  the  National  Hotel,  his  accomplice  had  once  urged  a  postponement  of 
the  "  mysterious  business"  until  "  Richmond  could  be  heard  from" — probably  by 
the  clandestine  route  alluded  to — which,  following  on  the  statement  of  the  Rich- 
mond journals,  apropos  of  Beale's  execution  in  New  York  harbor,  together  with 
the  arguments  previously  advanced,  demonstrates  almost  beyond  the  possibility 
of  a  doubt  that  Booth  and  Surratt,  or  whosoever  the  actor's  confederate  may 
have  been,  were  the  agents  of  a  bloodthirsty  gang  at  the  late  Rebel  capital. 

If  the  criminals  were  the  men  who  rode  over  the  Anacostia  Bridge,  on  the 
night  of  the  murder,  they  were  probably  going  over  familiar  ground  to  some 
point  on  the  Potomac,  whence  they  expected  to  cross  over  into  Virginia,  and 
thence  to  Jeff.  Davis'  distant  retreat,  if  practicable — or  by  hook  or  crook  to  join 
Moseby's  yet  unscattered  force,  this  side  of  Richmond — all  in  accordance  with 
previous  arrangement. 


f 


Captain  McGowan's  Account  of  the  Assassination. 

The  following  statement  of  Captain  Theodore  McGowan,  A.  A.  G.  to  Gen. 
Augur,  may  be  implicitly  relied  on  as  a  correct  version  of  the  assassination  of 
Mr.  Lincoln 

Washington,  D.  C,  April  14. — On  the  night  of  Friday,  April  14th,  1865,  in  com- 
pany with  a  friend,  I  went  to  Ford's  Theatre.  Arriving  there  just  after  the  en- 
trance of  President  Lincoln  and  the  party  accompanying  him,  my  friend.  Lieutenant 
Crawford  and  I,  after  viewing  the  presidential  party  from  the  opposite  side  of 
the  dress  circle,  went  to  the  right  side,  and  took  seats  in  the  passage  above  the 
seats  of  the  dress  circle,  and  about  five  feet  from  the  door  of  the  box  occupied  by 
President  Lincoln.  During  the  performance  the  attendant  of  the  President  came 
■  out  and  took  the  chair  nearest  the  door.  I  sat,  and  had  been  sitting  about  four 
feet  to  his  left  and  rear  for  some  time. 

I  remember  that  a  man,  whose  face  I  do  not  distinctly  recollect,  passed  me  and 
inquird  of  one  sitting  near  who  the  President's  messenger  was,  and  learning,  ex- 


) 


THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  39 

hibited  to  him  an  envelope,  apparently  official,  having  a  printed  heading  and 
superscribed  in  a  bold  hand,  I  could  not  read  the  address  and  did  not  try.  I 
think  now  it  was  meant  for  Ljeutenant-General  Grant     That  man  went  away. 

Some  time  after  I  was  disturbed  in  my  seat  by  the  approach  of  a  man  who 
desired  to  pass  up  on  the  aisle  in  which  I  was  sitting.  Giving  him  room  by  bend- 
ing my  chair  forward  he  passed  me,  and  stepped  one  step  down  upon  the  lev^^l 
below  me.  Standing  there,  he  was  almost  in  my  Hne  of  sight,  and  I  saw  him 
while  watching  the' play.  lie  stood,  as  I  remember,  one  step  above  the  messenger, 
and  remained  perhaps  one  minute  looking  at  the  stage  and  orchestra  below. 

Then  he  drew  a  nixmber  of  visiting  cards  from  his  pocket,  from  which,  wiih 
some  attention,  he  drew  or  selected  one.  These  things  I  saw  distinctly.  I  saw 
him  stoop,  and,  I  think,  descend  to  the  level  with  the  messenger,  and  by  his  right 
Bide.  He  showed  the  card  to  the  messenger,  and  as  my  attention  was  then  more 
closely  fixed  upon  the  play,  I  do  not  know  whether  the  card  was  carried  in  by  the 
messenger,  or  his  consent  given  to  the  entrance  of  the  man  who  presented  it. 

I  saw,  a  few  moments  after,  the  same  man  entering  the  door  of  the  lobby,  lead- 
ing to  the  box  and  the  door  closing  beliind  him.  Tliis  was  seen,  because  I  could 
not  fail  from  my  position  to  observe  it ;  the  door  side  of  the  proscenium  box  and 
the  stage  were  all  within  the  dir^t  and  oblique  lines  of  my  sight  How  long  I 
watched  the  play  after  entering  I  do  not  know. 

It  was,  perhaps,  two  or  three  minutes,  possibly  four.  The  house  was  perfectly 
gtill,  the  large  audience  listening  to  the  dialogue  between  "  Florence  Trenchard" 
and  "  May  Meredith,"  when  the  sharp  report  of  a  pistol  rang  through  the  house. 
It  was  apparently  fired  behind  thfe  scenes,  on  the  right  of  the  stage.  Looking  to- 
wards it  and  behind  the  presidential  box,  while  it  started  all,  it  was  evidently  ac- 
cepted by  every  one  in  the  theatre  as  an  introduction  to  some  new  passage,  several 
of  which  had  been  interpolated  in  the  early  part  of  the  play.  A  moment  after,  h 
man  leaped  from  the  front  of  the  box  directly  down,  nine  feet,  and  on  the  stace. , 
and  ran  rapidly  across  it,  bare-headed,  holding  an  unsheathed  dagger  in  his  riglit 
hand,  the  blade  of  which  flashed  brightly  in  the  gas-light  as  he  came  within  ton 
fcet  of  the  opposite  rear  exit  I  did  not  see  his  face  as  he  leaped  or  ran,  but  I  am 
convinced  that  he  was  the  man  I  saw  enter.  As  he  leaped  he  cried  distinctly  t];e 
motto  of  Virginia,  "Sic  semper  tyrannis." 

The  hearing  of  this  and  the  sight  of  the  dagger  explained  fully  to  me  the  nature 
of  the  deed  he  had  committed.  In  an  instant  he  had  disappeared  behind  the  side- 
scene.  Consternation  seemed  for  a  moment  to  rivet  every  one  to  his  seat,  the 
next  moment  confusion  reigned  supreme.  I  saw  the  features  of  the  man  dis- 
tinctly before  he  entered  the  box,  having  surveyed  him  contemptuously  before  he 
entered,  supposing  him  to  be  an  ill-bred  fellow  who  was  pressing  a  selfish  matter 
upon  the  President  in  his  hours  of  leisure. 

The  assassin  of  the  President  is  about  five  feet  nine  and  a  half  inches  hi^-ii, 
black  hair,  and  £  think  eyes  of  the  same  color.  He  did  not  turn  his  face  more 
than  quarter  front,  as  artists  term  it.  His  face  was  smooth,  as  I  remember,  with 
the  exception  of  a  moustache  of  moderate  size,  but  of  this  I  am  not  positive.  H« 
was  dressed  in  a  black  coat,  approximating  to  a  dress  frock,  dark  pants,  and  worn 
a  stiff-rimmed,  flat-topped,  round-crowned  black  hat,  of  felt,  I  think.  He  was  a 
gentlemanly  looking  person,  having  no  decided  or  obtruding  mark.  He  seeioed 
for  a  moment  or  two  to  survey  the  house  with  the  deliberation  of  an  hahi'.us 
of  the  theatre. 

2 


^' 


40  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF    PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 


FURTHER  DETAILS  OF  THE  ASSASSINATION. 


PLOT    TO    MURDEll    THE    ENTIRE    CABINET. 


Booth's  Attempt  to  reach  President  Johnson. 

STATEMENTS  OF  MISS  LAURA  KEENE,  MAJOR  RATHBUN, 
AND   CAPTAIN  MACGOWAN. 


SECRETARY    SEWARD'S    CONDITION. 
ESCAPE    OP    THE    MURDERERS  ! 


\ 


LATEST  FROM  SECRETARY  SEWARD. 

He  Receives  the  Intelligence  of  the  Assassination  of  President  Lincoln. 

Washington,  April  17.  — The  deep  interest  felt  in  Secretary  Seward,  has 
thronged  his  residence  with  visitors,  among  them  several  members  of  the  Cabi- 
net and  Foreign  Ministers. 

He  was  informed  yesterday,  for  the  first  tiine,  of  the  assassination  of  the 
President,  and  of  the  attempted  assassination  of  his  son,  the  Assistant  Secretary, 
and,  to  some  extent,  of  the  condition  in  which  he  then  lay. 

Though  moved  with  the  intensest  sorrow  and  horror  at  a  recital  of  the  facts, 
liis  strength  had  so  far  returned  as  to  enable  him  to  bear  up  under  the  trying 
ordeaL 

The  Assassins— $30,000  Reward. 
Washington,  April  17.— Every  effort  that  ingenuity,  excited  by  fervor,  can 
make,  is  being  put  forth  by  all  the  proper  authorities  to  capture  or  trace  the 
Assassins  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Sewari 

The  Common  Council  of  this  city  have  offered  a  reward  of  .$20,000  for  the 
vrest  and  conviction  of  the  assassin.  To  this  sum  another  of  $10,000  is  added 
t)y  Colonel  L.  C.  Baker,  agent  of  the  War  Department,  making  the  whole  reward 
Thirty  Thousand  Dollars.  To  this  announcement  are  added  tlie  following  de- 
vsriptions  of  the  individuals  accused  : 

Description  of  J.  Wilkes  Booth. 

The  description  of  John  Wilkes  Booth,  who  assassinated  the  President  on  the 
evening  of  April  U,  1865  :— Height,  5  feet  8  inches;  weight,  160  pounds;  com- 
pactly built ;  hair  jet  black,  inclined  to  curl,  medium  length,  parted  behind  ;  eyes 
black  and  heavy ;  dark  eye-brows  ;  wears  a  large  seal  ring  on  the  little  finger  ; 
when  talking,  inclines  his  head  forward  and  looks  down. 

Description  of  the  person  who  attempted  to  assassinate  the  Hon.  William  H. 
Seward,  Secretary  of  State : — 

Height,  6  feet  one  inch  ;  hair  black,  thick,  full,  and  straight ;  no  beard,  nor 
appearaj^;e  of  beard;  cheeks  red  in  the  jaws;  face  moderately  full;  22  or  23 
yecjs  oi  age. 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  41 

Color  of  eyes  not  known^  large  eyes  but  not  prominent ;  brows,  not  heavy  but 
dark ;  face,  not  large  but  rather  round ;  complexion  healthy ;  nose  straight  and 
well-formed,  medium  sized. 

His  mouth  was  small,  lips  thin ;  upper  lip  protruded  when  he  talked ;  chin 
pointed  and  prominent ;  head  medium  size ;  neck  short  and  of  medium  size  ; 
hands  soft  and  small,  fingers  tapering  ;  shows  no  signs  of  hard  labor. 

He  had  broad  shoulders,  taper  waist,  straight  figure — a  strong  looking  man  ; 
manner  not  gentlemanly  but  vulgar. 

He  was  clad  in  a  dress  overcoat,  with  side-pockets  and  one  on  the  breast,  with 
lappels ;  black  pants  of  common  stufi",  new  heavy  boots;  voice  small  and  thin,  in- 
clined to  tenor. 

Number  of  Assassins  Six. 

The  number  o£  persons  engaged  in  the  assassination,  as  developed  by  evidence 
thus  far  educed,  is  six,  including  Booth. 

Had  each  man  engaged  performed  his  part,  the  entire  cabinet,  with  Vice-Presi- 
dent Johnson,  would  have  been  assassinated. 

Three  Supposed  Accomplices  Arrested. 

The  town  is  full  of  rumors  of  the  capture  of  Booth  and  Surrat;  but  an  hour 
ago  neither  had  been  taken.  Several  arrests  have  been  made — among  them,  three 
supposed  accomplices  of'Booth  in  Prince  George  county,  Maryland. 

Frederick  W.  Seward  Conscious. 

Secretary  Seward  is  doing  well.  Frederick  is  still  in  a  dangerous  condition, 
though  there  is  hope  of  his  life.  For  the  first  time  he  is  conscious,  replying  to  a 
question. 

Pistol  and  Knife  Pound. 

In  the  room  above  the  one  occupied  by  Vice-President  Johnson,  in  the  Kirk- 
wood  House,  was  found  the  pistol  and  knife  which  are  of  the  same  pattern  as 
those  in  Secretary  Seward's  house. 


INVESTIGATION— A  CONSPIRACY   TO  ASSASSINATE   EVERY 
MEMBER  OP  THE  CABINET,  ETC. 

Washington,  April  17. — The  investigation  in  regard  to  the  assassination  is  still 
progressing.  A  regular  conspiracy  to  assassinate  every  member  of  the  Cabinet, 
together  with  the  Vice-President,  has  already  been  ascertained  by  developments 
which  have  just  come  to  light.  The  names  of  the  severally  appointed  assassins 
are,  it  is  understood,  known,  and  when  all  the  facts  are  published  the  country  will 
be  astounded.  We  refrain  from  motives  of  public  interest  from  mentioning  any 
names. 

The  murderer  Booth  has  undoubtedly  made  his  escape  into  Rebeldom,  as  have 
also  the  other  assassins.  It  naay  be  sometime  before  he  and  the  rest  of  them  are 
apprehended,  but  they  siyely  will  be  in  the  end. 

Secretary  Seward  is  regarded  by  his  physicians  as  out  of  danger.  Assistant 
Secretary  F.  W.  Seward  is  also  better  to-day. 

John  Wilkes  Booth. 

This  young  man — for  he  is  only  thirty-three  years  of  age — is  the  youngest  sou 
of  the  elder  Booth,  and  is  next  in  order  of  birth  to  his  distinguished  brothgr 


42  THE    ASSASSINATION    OF    PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Kdwin.  ne  was  born  on  hia  father's  farm  near  Baltimore,  and  is  thus  a  Mary- 
landor.  Like  his  two  brothers,  Edwin,  and  Junius  Brutus,  he  inherited  and  early 
manifested  a  predilection  for  the  stage,  and  is  well  known  tc  theatre-goers  and 
the  public  generally  as  a  very  fine-looking  yoxmg  man,  but  as  an  actor  of  more 
promise  than  performance. 

lie  is  best  remembered  perhaps,  in  "  Richard,"  which  he  played  closely  after  hia 
father's  conception  of  that  character,  and  by  his  admirers  was  considered  superior 
tt)  the  elder  Booth.  He  was  quite  popular  in  the  Western  and  Southern  cities, 
and  his  last  extended  engagement  was,  we  believe,  in  Chicago. 

We  have  heard  excellent  actors  say — and  actors  are  not  over  apt  to  praise  each 
other — that  he  had  inherited  some  of  the  most  brilliant  qualities  of  his  father's 
genius.  But,  of  late,  an  apparently  incurable  bronchial  affection  has  made  almost 
every  engagement  a  failure.  The  papers  and  critics  have  apologized  for  hia 
"  hoarseness,"  but  it  has  long  been  known  by  his  friends  that  ho  would  be  compelled 
to  abandon  the  stage. 

Last  winter  he  played  an  engagement  in  the  St.  Charles  Theatre,  in  New 
Orleans,  under  the  disadvantage  of  his  "hoarseness,"  and  the  engagement  termi- 
nated sooner  than  waa  expected  on  that  account.  He  had  many  old  friends  in 
that  city,  but  this  was  his  first  appearance  there  since  the  inception  of  the  rebel- 
lion. On  his  arrival  he  called  upon  the  editor  of  one  of  the  leading  journals,  and 
iu  the  course  of  conversation  warmly  expressed  his  sympathy  with  secession. 
Indeed,  he  was  well  known  as  a  secessionist,  but  he  was  not  one  of  the  "  noisy 
kind."  He  has  the  same  quiet,  subdued,  gentlemanly  manner  in  his  intercourse 
with  others,  that  marks  hia  whole  family. 

Hia  last  appearance  in  pubhc  in  this  city  was  on  the  evening  of  November  2.3, 
1864,  at  Winter  Garden,  when  the  play  of  Julius  Ccesar  was  given  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Shaskespeare  Monument  Fund,  with  a  cast  including  the  three  Booth 
brothers — Edwin  as  "Brutus,"  Junius  &i  "  Cassius,"  and  John  Wilkes  as  "  Marc 
Antony."    There  was  a  very  large  and  appreciative  audience  on  that  occasion. 

If  it  is  indeed  true  that  he  is  the  assassin  of  the  President,  the  universal  indig. 
nation  which  will  consign  him  to  lasting  infamy  will  not  prevent  the  expression 
of  the  profoundest  sympathy  andsorrow  for  those  who  are  allied  to  him  by  blood  ; 
and  whose  condemnation  of  the  act  will  not  be  less  emphatic  than  our  own;  and 
all  the  more  emphatic,  because  of  their  outspoken  fidelity  to  the  loyal  cause,  and 
their  heartfelt  admiration  of  the  late  President. 

Mr.  Edwin  Booth. 

Of  course,  no  just-minded  or  thoughtful  person  would  let  the  foul  act  of  J. 
Wilkes  Booth  reflect  upon  the  eminent  tragedian  Edwin  Booth,  his  brother.  But 
for  the  information  of  those  who  do  not  know  Mr.  Edwin  Booth's  opinions,  and 
who  may  imagine  that  sentiments  are  inherited  with  family  names,  we  will  si'.y 
tliat  he  has  been  a  thorough  Union  man  ;  he  has  on  diflerent  occasions,  here  and 
elsewhere,  for  the  benefit  of  tlie  Sanitary  Commission,  and  in  many  other  way:;, 
s^jown  his  sympathy  with  the  Union  cause.  We  are  informed  that  political  dif- 
ferences had  cau.scd  a  serious  quarrel  between  Mr.  Bootli  and  his  brother  som** 
time  ago. 

Frederick  W.  Seward. 

Mr.  Frederick  William  Seward,  son  of  the  Secretary,  and  himself  Assistant 
Secretary  of  State,  who  was  wounded  by  the  assassin,  was  graduated  at  Union 
College,  Schenectady,  New  York,  in  the  class  of  1849,  and  afterwards  studied  l:\w 
in  Ilia  father's  office  in  Auburn  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1852.     A4"cw 


THE    ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDEIfT   LINCOLN.  43 

years  later  he  purchased  an  interest  in  and  became  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Albany  Evening  Journal.  After  the  appointment  of  his  father  as  Secretary  of 
State,  in  1861,  he  was  placed  in  the  position  of  the  Assistant  Secretaryship,  and 
ftas  discharged  his  duties  with  great  ability  and  credit.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
fine  abilities,  of  most  winning  manners,  and  was  endeared  to  a  very  large  circle  of 
private  as  well  as  political  friends. 

Clarence  H.  Seward. 

It  was  reported  this  morning  that  Major  Clarence  H.  Seward  also  was  attacked 
by  the  assassin,  but  the  statement  is  erroneous,  as  he  was  in  New  York  on  Satur- 
day,    He  is  a  nephew,  and  we  believe  an  adopted  son,  of  Secretary  Seward. 

He  was  a  graduate  of  Geneva,  New  York  (now  Hobart  Free)  College,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  has  practised  law  in  New  York  city.  He  volunteered  in 
the  early  part  of  the  war,  and  from  a  lieutenancy  has  lately  been  promoted  to  a 
majority  in  the  volunteers. 

Vice-President  Johnson  to  have  been  also  Assassinated. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  then  Vice-President  Johnson  was  included  In  the 
murderous  programme  of  Friday  night.  On  Thursday  a  man  of  genteel  appear- 
ance took  a  room  at  Kirkwood's  Hotel,  where  Mr.  Johnson  boards.  For  reasons 
best  known  to  the  proprietor  or  the  detective,  the  name  registered  has  not  been 
disclosed. 

During  the  followiiig  day  he  was  particular  in  his  inquiries  about  the  room,  of 
Mr.  Johnson,  his  whereabouts  and  habits.  Since  Friday  night  the  strange 
lodger  has  not  been  seen  ;  and  on  breaking  open  his  room  last  night  there  were 
found  concealed  between  the  bed  and  mattress  a  bowie  knife  and  navy  revolver, 
and  a  bank  book  of  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  showing  a  balance  of  over  four  hundred 
dollars  in  bank. 

During  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  Booth  called  at  Kirkwood's  and  sent  to  Mr. 
Johnson  a  card,  as  follows  : 

"  Don't  wish  to  disturb  you.     Are  you  at  home  ? 

"  J.  Wilkes  Booth." 

When  the  assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  occurred.  Senator  Farwell,  of  Maine, 
was  in  the  theatre,  and  hurried  to  Mr.  Johnson's  room  and  woke  him  up,  to 
apprise  him  of  the  horrid  tragedy.  Upon  entering  the  room  he  took  the  precau- 
tion to  extinguish  the  light.  It  may  be  that  this  circumstance,  or  perhaps  the 
early  retiring  of  Mr.  Jobnson,  saved  him  from  assassination. 

Major  Rathbun's  Statement. 

The  President's  box  at  Ford's  theatre  is  a  double  one,  or  what  ordinarily 
constitutes  two  boxes,  in  the  second  tier,  at  the  left  of  the  stage.  When  occupied 
by  the  presidential  party  the  separating  partition  is  removed,  and  the  two  are 
thus  thrown  into  one. 

The  box  is  entered  from  a  narrow,  dark  hall-way,  which  in  turn  is  separated 
from  the  dress  circle  by  a  small  door.  The  examination  of  the  premises  discloses 
the  fact  that  the  assassin  had  fully  and  deliberately  prepared  and  arranged  them 
for  his  diabolical  purpose  previous  to  the  assembling  of  the  audience. 

A  piece  of  board  one  inch  thick,  six  inches  wide,  and  about  three  feet  in  length, 
served  for  a  bar,  one  end  being  placed  in  an  indentation  excavated  in  the  wall  for 
Uie  purpose,  about  four  feet  from  the  floor,  and  the  other  against  the  moulding  of 


44  THE   ASSASSINATION"   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

the  door-panel,  a  few  inches  higher  than  the  end  in  the  wall,  so  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  jar  it  out  of  place  by  knocking  on  the  door  on  the  oulhide. 

The  demon  having  thus  guarded  against  intrusion  by  any  of  the  audience,  next 
proceeded  to  prepare  a  means  of  observing  the  position  of  the  parties  inside  the 
box.  With  a  gimlet  or  small  bit  he  bored  a  hole  in  the  door  panel,  which  he 
afterwards  reamed  out  with  his  knife  so  as  to  leave  it  little  larger  than  a  buckshot 
on  the  inside,  while  it  was  sufficiently  large  on  the  outside  in  the  dark  entry  for 
him  to  place  his  eye  against  with  convenience  and  see  the  position  occupied  by 
tiie  President  and  his  friends.  Both  box  doors  were  perforated  in  hke  manner. 
But  there  were  spring  locks  on  each  of  these  doors,  and  it  was  barely  possible 
that  they  might  be  fastened. 

To  provide  against  such  an  emergency,  the  screws  which  fasten  the  bolt-hasps 
to  the  wood  had  been  partially  withdrawn,  and  left  so  that,  while  they  would  hold 
the  hasps  to  the  wood,  they  would  afford  little  or  no  resistance  to  a  firm  pressure 
upon  the  door  from  the  outside. 

Miss  Laura  Keene's  Statement. 

Prominent  among  those  mentioned  in  coimection  with  the  incidents  of  the  late 
tragical  death  of  our  worthy  President,  is  the  name  of  Miss  Laura  Keene,  the 
actress.  In  order  to  place  her  right  in  the  history,  the  following  facts  will 
suflSce : 

Miss  Keene  was  behind  the  scenes  at  the  precise  time  of  the  shooting,  waiting 
to  come  on  the  stage.  She  was  near  the  place  theatrically  known  as  the  tormentor. 
She  was  on  the  northern  side  of  the  theatre,  while  the  President's  box  was  on  the 
southern  side. 

Miss  Keene's  position  was  near  the  prompter's  desk ;  but  as  that  official  was 
absent  calling  some  of  the  actors,  she  placed  herself  near  the  point  where  she 
could  more  readily  enter  upon  her  part. 

She  was  at  the  time  expecting  to  see  the  ingress  of  Mr.  Spear,  whose  part  was 
at  hand,  and  prepared  herself  to  break  his  fall  as  he  entered  in  a  drunken  scene  ; 
but  instead  of  receiving  Mr.  Spear,  Mr.  Booth  pushed  his  way  suddenly  through 
the  side-scene,  striking  Miss  Keene  on  the  hand  with  his  own  in  which  he  held 
the  dagger. 

She  for  a  second  looked  at  him,  and  saw  it  was  another  person  from  the  one  she 
expected — and  instantaneously  she  heard  the  cry  that  the  President  was  shot. 
The  cry  was  spontaneous  among  the  audience,  and  many  of  them  were  making 
for  the  stage. 

She  then  knew  something  was  occurring,  as  women  were  screaming,  men  halloo- 
ing, and  children  crying,  as  if  a  fire-panic  had  taken  place.  Miss  Keene  went  to 
the  front  of  the  stage,  and,  addressing  the  bemldered  audience,  said — "  For  God's 
sake  have  presence  of  mind  and  keep  your  places,  and  all  will  be  well." 

Notwithstanding  this  appeal,  the  audience  were  boisterous  ;  and  while  all 
seemed  willing  to  detect  the  perpetrator  of  the  great  crime,  but  one  made  a  move 
to  this  end.  Scarcely  had  the  perpetrator  of  the  crime  jumped  from  the  Presi- 
dent's box  to  the  stage  than  he  was  followed  by  Mr.  Stewart,  one  of  the  auditors. 

As  Mr.  Booth  crossed  the  stage  he  met  and  struck  at  the  carpenter  with  the 
dagger  he  held,  and  instantaneously  made  his  exit  to  the  rear  of  the  theatre, 
where  his  horse  was  in  readiness,  and  thence  made  his  escape. 
•  Miss  Keene,  after  momentarily  arresting  the  panic  and  consternation  in  the 
audience,  heard  tlie  cry  of  Miss  Harris,  saying,  "Miss  Keene,  bring  some  water." 
Miss  Keene,  responding  to  the  call,  made  her  way,  which  was  rather  circuitous, 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  45 

through  the   dress-circle  to  the  President's  box,  and  got  there  a  few  moments 
after  the  occurrence. 

There  she  saw  Mrs.  Lincoln,  in  the  agony  of  a  devoted  wife,  uttering  the  most 
piteoiis  cries.  Miss  Keene  attempted  to  pacify  her,  at  the  same  time  ofiering  the 
good  ofSces  in  her  power,  but  she  was  convinced  from  her  observation  that  human 
help  was  in  vain.  Miss  Keene  remained  with  the  President  until  he  was  taken 
from  the  theatre. 


FOBMATIOW    OF    A    REGULAR    CONSPIRACY. 

Washington,  April  17. — The  ''National  Intelligencer"  says :  We  can  state  on 
the  highest  authority  that  it  has  been  ascertained  that  there  was  a  regular  con- 
spiracy to  assassinate  every  member  of  the  Cabinet,  together  'with  the  Vice- 
President. 

Booth  sends  up  his  Card  to  President  Johnson. 

Booth,  it  is  said,  sent  his  card  up  to  the  Vice-President  at  the  hotel,  but  Mr 
Johnson  could  not  conveniently  see  him. 

A  member  of  the  Cabinet  remarked  on  the  day  after  the  murder  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
that  the  Rebels  had  lost  their  best  friend  ;  that  Mr,  Lincoln  at  every  Cabinet 
meeting  invariably  counselled  forbearance,  kindness,  and  mercy  towards  these 
misguided  men. 

The  '' Intelligencer"  also  contains  the  following : 

Harmony  between  Lincoln  and  Johnson. 

We  understand,  from  authority  which  we  deem  unquestionable,  that  a  few  days 
ago,  after  an  interview  between  the  late  Chief  Magistrate  and  the  present  one, 
Mr.  Lincoln  expressed  himself  gratified  with  their  concurrent  views,  and  he  placed 
implicit  confidence  in  the  Vice-President. 


THE    OBSEQTJIES- 

rUNEHAL  CEREMONIES  IN  WASHINGTON. 


Pilgrims  from  Every  Quarter  of  the  Union  at  the  Capital. 
APPEAEANCE  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 


TH^  SCJUU'll  I^  THIS  i^AST  ROO^E. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  SERVICES  OF  THE  DAY. 


PRAYER.   OF    BISHOP    SIMPSON. 


FUNERAL   ORATION  BY  REV.  DR.  GURLEY. 


A  NATION'S  SORROW  OVER  HER  MARTYRED  CHIEF. 

"Washington,  April  19th,  1865. 
To-day  has  been  a  bright,  genial  day  for  a  sad,  sad  ceremony — the  funeral  of 
our  murdered  President.     The  first  beams  of  sunlight  came  out  with  the  booming 
of  morning  cannon,  and  as  the  day  grew  old  they  grew  radia.nt  till  they  were 


I 


t 

40  THK   ASSASSIXATION    OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

rilmosi  of  Kumracr  hotiicss.  As  J  write  I  sea  away  out  over  the  roor-tops  rejoi''uig 
nature  luxuriant  in  odorous  bloKsoms  and  myriad  budding  leaves  on  the  verdure- 
clad  Virginia  hills.  Thero  is  not  a  cloud  in  (lie  whole  sky.  It  seems  as  glad  as  if  no 
Uiition  lay  beneath  mournhig  over  its  murdered  dead,  and  paying  him  the  last 
li'inors  the  living  can  render  to  the  departed;  and  yet  so  it  is,  for  the  spectacle 
[jtesentcd  here  to-day  was  but  a  part  of  the  genepal  sadness  all  over  the  land.  'J'he 
whole  cit}',  ever  since  the  death  of  the  President,  has  been  gloomy  in  crape, 
.stretching  from  house  to  house,  as  if  to  keep  up  the  communion  of  sympathy  and 
the  remembrance  of  our  loss.  Stores  have  been  closed,  business  forgotten ;  for 
tJie  sole  thought  of  the  people  has  been  the  story  of  the  dreadful  murder  and 
condign  ju.stice  on  the  assassin.  Washington  has  been  sad  ever  since  (Jood 
Friday,  although  a  joyous  time  of  the  Christian  year;  but  Wednesday,  April  19th, 
will  ever  be  her  grandest  and  her  saddest  day — grand  because  of  the  great  out- 
pouring, the  extraordinary  demonstrations  of  respect  to  the  dead — sad  becau.SrC  all 
this  love,  all  this  honor,  v?as  for  one  who  was  gone — one  who  could  no  longer 
thank  them,  or  feel  himself  nerved  to  greater  deeds  of  good  to  the  people  of  the 
whole  nation — one  who  had  been  slain  even  by  those  to  whom  he  was  a  friend  and 
benefactor. 

Mourners  from  Abroad. 

The  armo\incement  that  the  funeral  would  take  place  to-day  drew  together 
immense  numbers  of  people  from  every  part  of  the  country.  I)elegations  came 
from  Illinois,  New  York,  the  New  England  States,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  Phil- 
adelphia, indeed,  every  portion  of  the  land,  and  numberless  individuals  came  from 
numberless  different  places.  The  Union  League  of  your  city,  a  deputation  from 
the  Councils,  and  the  members  of  the  Perseverance  Hose  Co.,  were  among  the 
arrivals,  while  from  New  York  came  the  Union  League,  the  ditferent  public 
.societies,  and  a  number  of  such  men  as  John  Jacob  Astor,  Moses  H.  trrinnell. 
Simeon  Draper,  and  many  others.  Every  train  that  arrived  was  full  of  men  and 
women  clad  in  solemn  black  in  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  nation's  head.  But 
Tuesday  night  and  Wednesday  morning  brought  the  largest  numbers,  and  to  them 
were  soon  added  thousands  from  Balti)nore,  Alexandria,  and  the  different  towns 
and  villages  for  miles  around  Washington.  In  the  early  morning,  before  the 
;;reat  slumbering  population  had  begun  to  appear  in  the  streets,  the  city  wore  a 
most  funeral  aspect,  with  its  countless  festoons  of  black  flapping  idly  in  the  wind, 
and  its  mourning  flags  stretching  out  lazily  before  the  intermittent  April  gusts, 
only  to  fall  back  suddenly  to  again  hug  the  staffs  that  supported  them.  The 
great-  dome  of  the  Capitol  stood  out  against  the  morning  sky  encircled  with 
badges  of  woe,  and  the  White  House  was  no  longer  white,  but  gloomy  with  the 
trappings  of  death. 

The  Streets  Filling. 
The  time  for  tlie  commencement  of  the  funeral  services  at  the  White  House 
was  fi.xed  at  12  o'clock,  but  before  that  time  thousands  began  to  pass  towards  the 
Kxecutive  Mansion,  clustering  on  Fifteenth  street  and  Pennsylvania  avenue,  and 
Uning  with  a  black,  surging  mass,  the  pavement  and  railing  guarding  the  grounds 
in  front  of  the  mansion.  Soon  the  troops  began  to  arrive  and  take  their  places  in 
the  line  of  escort.  Soon  the  whole  avenue  from  Thirteenth  down  to  Fifteenth 
street  was  crowded  with  thousands  who  stood  looking  mournfully  on  the  draped 
mansion  and  all  the  sad  surroundings,  reminding  them  of  their  great  loss  and  of 
the  awful  crime  which  had  been  committed  against  them  as  a  people.  To  thi.«< 
motley  ensemble  of  gleaming  bayonets,  uniforms  of  blue,  and  the  monotonous 
black  of  the  popular  dress,  were  soon  added  the  innumerable  carriages  which  were 


THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  47 

to  compose  part  of  the  funeral  procession.  The  sun  beat  hotly  down,  and  the 
eddying  gusts  shook  up  great  clouds  of  dust,  and  sent  them,  with  unswerving 
impartiality,  over  the  whole  throng;  yet  there  wis  no  dimunition  of  the  crowd, 
but  rather  a  constant  increase  of  its  numbers.  The  windows  and  porticoes  of  the 
Treasury  and  State  Department  were  also  filled  with  ladies,  who  looked  down 
upon  the  scene  before  them  with  evident  interest.  Admittance  to  the  White 
House  could  only  be  gained  through  the  Treasury,  and  the  doors  were  besieged 
from  early  morning  by  anxious  ones,  who  were  desirous  of  entering  the  house  to 
witness  and  assist  in  the  obsequies.  There  were  people  there  who  had  travelled 
hundreds  of  miles  to  gain  this  request,  and  there  were  people  who  had  not 
travelled  at  all ;  but  all  their  pleadings  were  in  vain.  The  most  plausible  stories, 
the  most  ingenious  subterfuges,  were  resorted  to,  but  all  were  useless.  The  im- 
placable officials  turned  them  off  without  mercy,  compelling  them  to  wander 
disconsolate,  or  be  crushed  in  the  swaying  throng.  ; 

The  Gathering  in  the  Treasury. 
Those  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  be  gifted  with  the  "  open  sesame"  to  the 
White  House  assembled  in  the  west  wing  of  the  Treasury  Department.  A  few 
minutes  before  eleven  the  doors  were  opened,  and  admittance  gained  to  the 
Executive  Mansion  and  the  "  East  Room"  over  a  long  temporary  wooden  bridge, 
which  spanned  the  galleries  and  uneven  ground  lying  between  the  marble  mone- 
tary palace  and  the  boundaries  bf  the  presidential  grounds.  It  required  a  long 
time  for  the  many  guests  to  pass,  but  the  spacious  rooms  held  all  that  were 
admitted.  The  arrangements,  under  the  direction  of  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  Harrington,  were  of  the  completest  kind,  and  every  thing  moved 
(smoothly,  without  the  slightest  delay  or  confusion. 

Appearance  of  the  White  House. 

Passing  over  the  long,  wooden  bridge  bearded  sentries  stopped  the  guest  at  the 
gate  until  his  ticket,  entitling  him  to  admittance,  was  shown.  Then  officers  mar- 
shalled him  through  the  entrance  rooms  to  the  East  Eoom,  where  the  body  of  the 
President  lay  in  state.  The  exterior  of  the  mansion  was  elaborately  and  taste- 
fully draped.  The  pediments  of  white  marble  were  festooned  generously  with 
crape,  which  wound  in  regular  folds  down  the  great,  smooth*  pillars  to  the  ground. 
The  reception  room  was  untouched.  It  was  as  always.  But  the  light  was  dimmed 
io  a  funeral  gloom,  which  made  objects  indistinct  and  shadowy,  and  prepared  the 
mind  of  the  visitor  for  the  sad  scene  into  which  a  few  steps  would  usher  him. 
When  we  entered  it  i  distinguished  company  was  assembled  :  committees  in  spot- 
less black,  with  great  white  silk  sashes  passed  across  their  breasts  over  their  right 
shoulders ;  generals  of  both  grades,  admirals,  comm.odores,  congressmen,  and  citi- 
zens from  every  part,  of  position  and  influence.  Members  of  the  press  were  grouped 
together  in  silence  over  the  long  area.  A  sad  group  of  soldiers,  cavalry  and  m- 
fantry,  -without  arms  or  accoutrements  were  massed  on  the  right  of  the  portico, 
their  officers  at  their  head,  while  scattered  over  the  ground  were  other  groups — all 
sad,  all  still,  all  impressed  with  the  meaning  of  the  occasion  that  had  brought 
them  together. 

The  East  Room. 

The  scene  in  this  room  burst  on  one  with  a  sudden  pathos  of  woe,  for  every 
thing  that  could  suggest  it  was  present.  The  heavy  curtains  were  drawn  down 
over  the  windows,  shutting  out  the  simlight,  and  long  reaches  of  heavy  crape 
mingled  its  sombreness  with  the  gay  gold  of  the  brocade.     The  mirrors,  eight  ia 


48  THB   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

nnmber,  which  in  the  times  •when  the  honored  inmates  of  the  presidential  mansion 
were  happy,  reflected  back  in  myriad  tints  bright  scenes,  scenes  of  joy,  -were  now 
liidden  in  crape  and  barege.  The  ruddy  yellow  of  the  frames  was  hidden  in  black, 
and  the  brilliant  polish  of  the  pier  glass  lost  its  brilliance  beneath  the  white  dis- 
guise of  fairy  gauze.  But  it  was  not  the  gloom  that  saddened,  nor  the  hangings 
that  covered  every  thing  that  looked  of  mortality,  nor  the  abandonment  of  desola- 
tion in  the  city  that  smote  the  heart.  There  was  something  still  more  solemn,  that 
spoke  far  more  clearly  of  death,  in  the  funeral  catafalque  and  the  silvered  cofiBn 
that  held  all  that  was  earthly  of  the  great,  the  good,  the  true.  It  needed  none  of 
these  faven  plumes  to  tell  of  death,  for  there  it  was  in  all  its  ghastliness,  under  the 
gathering  folds  of  the  sumptuous  canopy,  covering  the  remains  of  Abraham  Lin 
coin.  It  struck  all  with  force.  Not  one  among  all  who  entered  the  East  Boom, 
no  matter  what  he  was — a  total  unbeliever  or  a  fervent  Christian — but  felt  that 
the  King  of  Terrors  was  a  mighty  king,  who  spared  no  one  in  his  anger,  and 
sought  his  victims  alike  from  the  liighest  and  the  lowest. 

The  Scene  in  the  East  Eoom. 

All  that  art  can  do,  all  that  a  desire  for  luxury  can  do,  has  been  dqne  to  render 
the  East  Room  beautiful.  Even  in  its  garb  of  woe  the  same  beautj-^  remained 
more  lovely  and  even  heightened  by  the  grief  that  struggled  with  idle  show,  ren- 
dered the  original  beauty  the  more  winsome.  But  on  this  occasion  its  natural 
beauty  was  heightened  by  an  intellectual  beauty.  All  the  talent,  the  genius,  the 
celebrity  of  our  land  were  gathered  within  its  comparatively  narrow  limits,  and  to 
their  prestige  were  added  all  the  mind  and  force  represented  m  Washington  by 
the  Diplomatic  Corps.  The  guests  had  been  ranged  in  a  great  semi-cirole  around 
the  catafalque.  On  the  chord  of  the  semi-circle  was  the  corps  of  correspondents 
of  the  press  of  the  country — gentlemen  whose  mission  it  is  to  criticise,  instruct, 
and  elevate  the  masses,  who  read  their  words  with  respect  and  profit.  Between 
the  great  arc  of  distinguished  men  and  the  chord  of  chroniclers  who  make  history 
was  the  catafalque,  partially  obscuring  from  the  view  of  your  correspondent  the 
distinguished  gentlemen  who  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  for  the  catafalque 
stood  in  about  the  centre. 

The  guests  entered  the  room  in  the  order  of  their  arrival,  without  regard  to 
rank.  There  were  ambassadors,  now  congressmen,  then  members  of  the  council 
of  some  grieving  loyal  city,  which  had  already  eacrificed  hundreds  or  thousands 
of  its  loyal  sons.  A  grave,  gold-laced  scion  of  the  European  aristocracy,  and  its 
many  interests,  was  the  arrival  now,  and  after  him  came  an  humble,  truly  demo- 
cratic representative  of  the  municipality  of  Baltimore,  modest  in  deportment, 
plain  in  dress,  in  manners,  and  in  speech.  Then  would  come  a  portly  congress- 
man, closely  succeeded  by  some  general  with  two  stars,  who  had  made  a  name 
amid  the  dangers  of  the  battle  field  alike  for  his  courage  as  a  man  and  his 
devotion  as  a  patriot  But  there  were  few  who  were  not  distinguished  in  law, 
politics,  war,  or  finance.  To  the  common  eye  they  were  common  men,  with 
nothing  to  recommend  them  beyond  their  dress,  but  there  was  a  purpose  of 
countenance,  an  evidence  of  will  and  of  power,  that  told  the  most  superficial  that 
these  men  presided  over  the  d<jstinios  of  nations  and  shaped  the  course  of  the 
civilized  world.  It  was  an  interesting  sight  for  the  members  of  the  press  to 
study  the  great  semi-circle  that  stretehed  around  them.  One  of  the  most 
striking  objects  was  a  fine-looking  man,  who  stood  far  above  the  grcoind,  his  out- 
lines limned  against  a  bareged  mirror.  He  was  wholly  unconscious  of  the  notice 
he  attracted,  but  his  dignity  and  manly  bearing  extorted  admiration  from  every 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PEESIDENT  LINCOLN.  49 

one — critic  and  unsophisticated.  He  stood  there  a  statne — a  living  statue — with 
health  on  his  cheeks  and  a  flowing  beard  that  betokened  his  manhood,  and  many 
a  man,  enthusiastic  on  certain  subjects  even  in  the  presence  of  death,  suggested 
his  portrait  as  a  representative  of  the  strength  of  our  thrice  blood-bought  Union. 
But  there  were  other  interesting  sights.  In  the  throng  before  us  was  included 
the  entire  poUtical  intellect  of  the  nation.  The  men  who  led  us  through  the 
storms  of  war ;  the  men  who  preside  as  monarchs  in  finance  and  furnished  us  the 
sinews  whose  strength  hurled  down  the  boasting  rebel  power ;  the  men  who,  in 
the  battle-field,  unblenched  by  cannon  roar  or  whistling  musket-shot,  directed  the 
efforts  of  our  gallant  armies  to  the  glorious  ends  of  success ;  our  great  men ;  the 
men  who  in  every  trial  and  every  defeat  were  proof  against  despair  and  equal  to 
every  emergency,  were  there,  modest  and  unobtruding,  but  none  the  less  meri- 
torious to  the  curious  eyes  that  sought  for  them.  Circled  around  the  catafalque, 
rich  in  all  that  ingenuity  could  suggest,  were  these  men,  great  in  the  field,  great 
In  the  forum,  great  in  the  council  hall.  On  the  right  of  the  corps  of  the  press, 
in  this  distinguished  gathering,  were  men  most  of  them,  perhaps,  imknown  to 
fame,  but  useful  in  their  spheres,  and  all  contributing  to  the  strength  and  glory 
of  the  nation.  The  catafalque  is  easily  described.  Measurements  are  not  neces- 
sary, for  they  bring  no  idea  of  extent  to  the  reading  mind.  It  was  a  canopy  of 
black  arching  over  the  remains  of  the  murdered  dead.  He  rested  in  quiet  peace 
in  a  dais — a  parallelogram  which  formed  the  base  upon  which  rested  the  cata- 
falque. A  dais  was  reared  for  the  better  convenience  of  the  sorrowing,  who 
mounted  it  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  dead,  the  martyred  dead.  To  our  right,  as 
we  have  before  intimated,  were  many  of  the  most  valuable  men  of  our  land — not 
distinguished  in  position,  perhaps,  but  in  their  spheres  invaluable. 

We  noticed  among  the  myriad  of  faces  that  of  Mayor  Wallach,  of  Washington, 
and  many  of  his  Councilmen;  the  Mayor  and  Council  of  Alexandria,  the  city  in 
wliich  Ellsworth  died ;  Messrs.  O'Neill  and  Myers,  Representatives  from  your 
State ;  Gen.  Burnside,  Gen.  Hoffman,  and  Gen.  Dyer.  Their  gaze  was  fixed  on 
the  black  velvet  coffin,  richly  besilvered  by  the  nation,  who  bemoaned  the  loss 
of  its  honored  occupant.  Gen.  Burnside  was  in  citizen's  dress,  but  his  face  was 
just  the  same  as  when  he  led  our  armies  on  the  tented  field,  though  tinged  with 
the  sadness  of  the  hour.  In  fhe  centre  of  the  semicircle  were  the  distinguished 
gentlemen  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Diplomatic  Corps.  There  was  a  marked 
distinction,  in  dress  at  least,  between  these  two  great  bodies.  Belaced  with  gold, 
the  ambassadors  looked  around  on  the  gathering  of  distinguished  men,  with  an 
air  of  calm  indifference,  although  they  could  not  look  upon  the  dead  without  a 
pang  of  regret,  and  a  respect,  and  a  memoir  of  decided  honor,  of  honor  indeed 
while  he  was  living.  There  was  a  great  contrast  between  the  Diplomatic- Corps 
and  our  highest  judicial  body.  One  came  out  in  all  the  tinsel  and  glory  of 
royalty,  which  depends  on  ostentation  for  its  safety,  while  our  greatest  court 
could  not  be  distinguished  from  the  mass  of  American  citizens. 

On  the  left  of  the  Press  Corps  was  perhaps  the  most  noticeable  gathering  of  all, 
for  there  stood  the  men  who  in  the  hour  of  our  trial  had  delivered  us  out  of  defeat 
and  crowned  our  sacrifices  with  victory.  There  was  Admiral  Porter — great,  bluff 
old  tar — the  conqueror  of  Fort  Fisher,  and  the  conqueror,  indeed,  of  the  whole 
South  Atlantic  coast ;  there  was  Farragut,  the  invincible — he  who  opened  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Union  armies  ;  there  was  Shubrick  ;  and  last,  though  not  least, 
there  was  Grant,  the  conqueror  of  the  hitherto  invmcible  army  of  Virginia — the 
man  who  by  sheer  genius  and  skill  had  driven  the  rebel  cohorts  from  their  chosen 


50  THE  ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Btronghold,  and  compelled  them  to  surrender,  in  a  friend's  countrj',  at  the  expense 
of  the  Confederacy  for  which  they  fought  and  died. 

On  the  right  there  was  nothing  particularly  noticeable,  even  though  they  were 
participants  in  the  obsequies  of  the  first-martyred  President  in  our  Republic* 
They  were  valuable  men — all  staunch  men,  but  they  played  no  great  part  in  the 
drama  of  the  nation's  preservation.  Those  in  the  centre  were,  in  their  places, 
instrumental  in  the  salvation  of  the  Union,  but  their  parts  were  secondary,  for 
their  weapons  drew  no  blood.  But  on  the  extreme  left,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
catafalque,  were  congregated  the  men  who,  on  land  and  sea,  had  upheld  the  honor 
of  the  flag.  Grant  was  there — the  impersonation  of  modesty — quiet  and  unob- 
trusive among  those  wh6  had  contributed  far  less  to  the  nation's  success.  Far- 
ragut,  Shubrick,  and  other  admirals  were  clustered  around  hun,  engaged  some- 
times in  lively  conversation — lively,  we  judge,  from  the  smiles  we  saw  at  different 
times  when  something  particularly  pertinent  had  been  uttered.  Grant  stood  there 
a  monarch  among  all — a  plain,  unpretending  man,  with  close-shorn  whiskers  and 
a  square,  massive  face — his  three  stars,  denoting  that  he  was  the  leading  officer  of 
the  United  States — the  chief  among  its  chief — were  concealed,  on  one  shoulder 
at  least,  by  the  great  white  silk  sash  which  indicated  his  position  as  chief  pall- 
bearer. Sometimes  he  turned  to  the  many  major-generals  grouped  around  him, 
and  made  some  remark  smilingly ;  but  beyond  the  respect  with  which  his  every 
v.'ord  was  received,  there  was  no  evidence  that  he  was  the  general-in-chief,  after 
the  President,  of  all  the  armies  of  the  United  States.  There  was  no  gorgeous- 
ness  about  him.  The  same  style  of  uninterrupted  rows  of  buttons,  in  clusters 
of  three,  marked  his  uniform,  and  the  only  means  of  recognition  for  those  who 
had  never  seen  him  was  the  immistakable  face  which  had  been  reproduced  in  a 
thousand  photographs. 

The  Funeral  Ceremonies. 

These  ceremonies  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley,  the  pastor  of  the  Pres- 
byterian church,  of  which  the  dead  President  was  a  constant  attendant.  After 
the  usual  funeral  services  a  prayer  was  offered  by  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Simpson,  re- 
plete with  unction  and  religious  patriotism,  succeeded  by  a  fervent  prayer  by*Rev. 
Mr:  Gray,  of  Washington.  These  services  were  read,  these  prayers  delivered  over 
a  coffin  strewed  with  camelias  and  evergreens,  the  offerings  of  the  true-hearted 
and  the  sympathizing.  The  sermon  of  Dr.  Gurley  was  a  fine  production,  and  all 
its  prominent  features  are  included  in  the  condensed  report,  to  be  found  in  another 

The  Funeral  Procession. 

The  sons  of  the  President  were  present  during  the  religious  services,  in  com- 
pany with  many  friends,  including  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  prominent 
members  of  the  government.  Thaddeus,  the  younger  one,  seemed  deeply 
affected,  and  bowed  his  head  upon  his  hand  during  the  whole  of  the  ceremonies. 
His  son  Robert  was  in  his  full  uniform  of  captain,  and  partook  in  the  sorrow  of  his 
youngGi"  brother.     Mrs.  Lincoln  was  not  present. 

When  the  last  prayer  had  been  offered  by  Dr.  Gurley,  the  coffin  was  removed 
by  twelve  sergeants  of  the  invalid  corps,  and  placed  in  a  hearse,  the  like  of  which 
in  grandeur  has  never  been  witnessed  in  Washington.  So  great  was  the  size  of 
the  hearse  that  the  coffin,  though  measuring  six  feet  six  inches  in  the  clear, 
seemed  as  a  child's  when  compared  to  the  great  capacity  of  the  receptacle  in 
which  it  was  carried.  When  the  coffin  had  been  transferred,  the  procession 
marched  on  its  way. 

lu  the  subjoined  report  we  give  some  idea  of  its  strength  and  magnificence. 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  51 

Never  before  has  Washington,  or  any  other  city,  witnessed  such  a  pageant,  and  in 
all  human  probability  it  never  will  again. 

The  Spectacle  of  the  Funeral. 

Eyes  have  not  often  witnessed  such  a  sight  as  we  witnessed  from  the  lofty  por- 
ticoes of  the  Treasury.  We  do  not  need  to  enter  into  its  particulars,  since  a  sub- 
joined report  covers  many  of  its  particulars.  But  the  report  can  never  express 
the  newness,  the  beauty,  even  in  the  midst  of  grief,  of  this  funeral.  In  the 
advance  were  the  Veteran  Eeserves,  men  who  had  in  battle  proven  their  prowness. 
Following  them  wore  the  marines,  their  celebrated  band,  the  cavalry  and  the 
artillery.  Pennsylvania  avenue  was  not  thronged,  but  packed  with  people.  The 
roofs  of  the  houses  vied  with  the  streets  in  the  number  of  their  occupaiit.^. 
The  stream  of  men  in  blue  and  red,  mounted  and  dismounted,  were  succeeded  by 
the  citizens  in  long  files,  extending  the  whole  width  of  Pennsylvania  avenue.  It 
was  a  glorious  sight,  and  at  least  thirty  thousand  men  assisted  in  the  grand  proof 
that  the  Union  is  not  dead  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Never  was  a  more 
splendid  sight  witnessed  in  Washington,  never,  perhaps,  may  it  be  again.  Tlie 
remains  were  at  last  deposited  in  the  Rotunda  of  the  Capitol,  where  they  will  re- 
main to-night  to  receive  the  veneration  of  the  people.  They  will  leave  here  at  8 
A.  M.  to-morrow,  passing  through  Baltimore  and  Harrisburg  to  you  city,  arriving 
there  perhaps  at  8  A.  M.  on  Saturday,  where  it  is  believed  they  will  remain  until 
4  A.  M.  Monday,  when  they  will  pass  through  New  York,  Albany,  and  other 
cities,  to  the  last  resting-place  in  Springfield,  Illinois, 


)  

THE  PROCESSION. 

At  precisely  two  o'clock  the  line  of  march  was  taken  up  at  the  President's 
house  in  the  followiiig  order : 

10th  Regiment  Invalid  Corps,  with  reversed  arms,  regimental  flags  draped  in 

mourning. 

Driim  Corps  of  fifteen  drums  and  ten  fifes. 

9th  Regiment  Invalid  Corps,  Colonel  George  W.  Gile. 

Marine  Band. 

Marine  Corps,  commanded  by  Major  Graham. 

1st  U.  S.  Battery  of  Artillery. 

84th  U.  S.  Battery  of  Artillery. 

(Nmnbering  together  eight  pieces,  12  pounders,  with  caissons,  etc.,  commanded 

by  Brigadier-General  Hall.) 

16th  New  York  Cavalry,  Colonel  N.  B.  Sweltzer. 

8th  Illinois  Cavalry,  Colonel  Clendennin. 

13th  New  York  Mounted  Band, 

General  Ketchem  and  staff. 

General  Slough,  Military  Governor  of  Alexandria,  and  staff. 

Dismounted  officers  of  Marine  Corps,  numbering  about  two  hundred. 

OflScers  of  Navy  and  Army  on  foot,  numbering  six  hundred. 

Mounted  officers  of  Army  and  Navy,  numbering  about  one  hundred. 

Signal  Corps  officers.    Field  officers. 

Marshal  Lam  on. 

Reverend  Clergy  and  Physicians  in  carriages,  three  abreast,  and  fifteen  in  number. 

The  drivers  of  these  carriages  had  their  hats  trimmed  with  white  cambric,  and 


52  THE   ASSASSINATION'   OP   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

those  who  rode  horseback  in  this  part  of  the  line  wore  white  satin  sashee  acroti 
their  bodies,  the  ends  hanging  gracefully  down  below  their  waists. 

Hearse. 

Bearing  the  mortal  remains  of  the  late  Abraham  Lincoln,  drawn  by  six  gray 

horses,  each  led  by  a  groom. 

The  grooms  were  dressed  in  full  black  suits  and  white  satin  sashes,  and  had 
white  cambric  muslin  tied  around  their  dress  hats,  with  long  flowing  ends.  The 
ornamentation  of  the  horses  was  quite  simple,  and  consisted  of  black  cloth  rosettes, 
one  of  which  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  horse,  and  another  about  the  middle 
of  the  body,  and  were  attached  to  the  harness.  The  hearse  itself  was  constructed 
with  much  skill  and  taste.  In  its  simplicity  it  agreed  with  the  character  of  the 
great  man  whose  remains  it  bore,  and  in  elegance  it  became  the  station  of  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  this  Kepublic.  It  was  ten  feet  in  length,  and  about  four  and 
a  half  feet  in  width.  The  height  of  the  platform  on  which  the  cofBn  rested  was 
seven  feet  from  the  ground.  This  platform  was  supported  by  a  pedestal-like 
])arallelogram  fourteen  feet  long  and  seven  feet  wide.  A  domed  canopy  sur- 
mounted the  whole.  At  the  top  of  the  canopy  was  a  gilt  eagle  covered  with 
crape.  The  whole  hearse  was  covered  with  black  cloth  relieved  by  layers  of  silk 
velvet.  The  seat  was  covered  with  hammer  cloth,  and  on  each  end  was  a 
splendid  black  lamp.  It  was,  altogether,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  the  coffin  was  so 
placed  as  to  afford  a  full  view  to  all  spectators.  The  hearse  was  guarded  on  each 
side  by  a  detachment  of  the  1st  Virginia  Artillery  on  foot. 

After  the  hearse  came  the  President's  horse,  with  his  saddle,  bridle  boots,  and 
stirrups.    The  horse  was  led  by  a  groom. 

Then  followed  the  pall-bearers  in  carriages  : 

On  the  part  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Foster,  of  Connecticut ;  Mr.  Morgan,  of  New  York ;  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Mary- 
land ;  Mr.  Yates,  of  Illinois ;  Mr.  "Wade,  of  Ohio ; 
Mr.  Conness,  of  California. 

On  the  part  of  the  House. 

Mr.  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts;  Mr.  Coffroth,  of  Pennsylvania;  Mr.  Smith,  of 
Kentucky ;  Mr.  Colfax,  of  Indiana ;  Mr.  Washburne,  of  Illinois. 

Army. 

Lieutenant-General  U.  S.  Grant. 

Major-General  H.  W.  Halleck. 

Brevet  Brigadier-General  W.  A.  Nichols. 

Navy. 

Vice-Admiral  D.  G.  Farragut 

Rear-Admiral  W.  B.  Shubrick. 

Colonel  Jacob  Zeller,  of  the  Marine  Corps. 

Civilians. 

0.  H.  Browning,  George  Ashmun,  Thomas  Corwin,  Simon  Cameron. 

The  family,  represented  by  Robert  Lincoln  and  Thaddeus  Lincoln,  in  a  carriage. 

The  delegations  of  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Kentucky,  as  mourners,  in  carriages. 

President  Andrew  Johnson. 
The  Cabinet  Ministers. 
The  Diplomatic  Corps 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  61 

Chief  Justice  Chase  and  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States,  preceded  by  its  officers. 

The  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  preceded  by  its  oflBcers. 

Governors  of  the  several  States  and  Territories, 

Legislatures  of  the  several  States  and  Territories. 

The  Federal  Judiciary  and  the  Judiciary  of  the  several  States  and  Territories. 

The  Assistant  Secretaries  of  State,  Treasury,  War,  Navy,  and  Interior,  and  the 

Assistant  Postmaster-Generals,  and  ^he  Assistant  Attorney-General. 

Officers  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute. 

(All  of  the  above,  after  the  hearse,  were  in  carriages.) 

Knights  Templar  and  band, 

CJity  Councils  of  Philadelphia,  dressed  in  full  black,  with  black  crape  on  hats, 

with  the  words  "  City  Councils  of  Philadelphia"  in  gilt  letters  thereupon. 

The  Members  and  Officers  of  the  Sanitary  and  Christian  Commissions. 

Satterlee  Hospital  Band. 

Perseverance  Hose  Company  of  Philadelphia,  dressed  in  black,  with  tlie  name  of 

the  company  on  crape,  in  gilt  letters,  on  high  hats. 

Washington  City  Councils. 

4th  U.  S.  Battery  Band. 

Ohio  Delegation. 
New  Jersey  Delegation. 
California  Delegation- 
Treasury  Band. 
Th?  heads  of  bureaus  and  the  clerks  in  the  respective  offices  of  the  Treasury 

Department. 

Heads  of  bureaus  and  clerks  in  the  respective  offices  of  the  War  Department. 

Heads  of  bureaus  and  clerks  in  the  respective  offices  of  the  Navy  Department. 

Heads  of  bureaus  and  clerks  in  the  respective  offices  of  the  Interior  Department. 

Heads '  of   bureaus   and  clerks  in   the   respective  offices    of   the    Post   Office 

Department. 

Offices  and  clerks  in  the  Attorney-General's  Office. 

Offices  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Joint  Committee  of  the  Alderman  and  Common  Council  of  New  York. 

The  badge  worn  by  the  Committee  was  handsomely  draped,  the  device  being 

the  coat  of  arms  of  the  city,  having  engraved  thereon  the  respective  names  of 

the  members  of  the  body.    The  badge  was  about  two  inches  in  circumference, 

and  appropriate  in  its  appearance. 

Surgeons  mounted. 
Surgeon-General  Barnes  and  Staff.  > 

Drum  Corps. 
Battalion  from  Quartermaster-General's  office,  known  as  the  21st  Infantry. 
Members  of  Councils  of  the  City  of  Baltimore. 
Officers  of  Custom  House. 
Quartermaster's  Band. 
Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the  War  of  1812. 
Brass  Band. 
Ctvpitol  Circle  No.  1,  Fenian  Brotherhood,  numbering  about  five  hundred. 

Brass  Band. 

14th  United  States  Infantry. 

Ist  Regiment  Meigs  Home  Guard. 

2d  Regiment  Meigs  Home  Guard,  Col.  Tansell. 


I 


62  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Employees  of  Qaartennaster' General's  Office. 

Employees  and  operatives  of  the  War  Department. 

Employees  and  operatives  of  the  Navy  Department. 

8th  Illinois  Cavalry  Band. 

United  States  Military  Railroad  employees,  numbering  about  one  thousand. 

Union  League  of  Georgetown. 
National  Republican  Union  Association. 
Delegation  from  Alexandria  with  covered  wagon  draped,  and  the  motto,  "Alex- 
andria mourns  the  National  Loss. 
Alexandria  Fire  Department,  numbering  about  two  hundred,  uniform  red  shirt*, 

black  pants,  and  felt  hats. 
Potomac  Hose  of  Georgetown,  D.  C,  numbering  about  one  hundred ;  same  uni- 
form as  Alexandria  Firemen. 
Mount  Vernon  Association ;  Soldiers  from  Hospitals. 
Brass  Band. 
Mechanics  and  Workmen  from  Mount  Claire. 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Employees ;  Arsenal  Employees. 

Brass  Band. 

Massachusetts  Delegation,  in  which  General  Butler  walked. 

Delegation  from  Philadelphia  Union  League. 

Delegation  from  New  York  Union  League. 

East  Baltimore  Union  League. 

Sigel  Union  League  of  Baltimore. 

Medical  College  of  Georgetown. 

Officers  and  Students  of  Gonzaga  College. 

Merritt  Band. 

Hebrew  Congregation. 

Brass  Band. 

Baltimore  City  Cornet  Band. 

Turners'  Society. 

Ancient  Order  of  Good  Fellows ;  Germania  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows. 

Carver  Hospital  Band. 

Good  Samaritan  Lodge,  No.  1,  Sons  of  Temperance ;   Equal   Division,  No.  3 

S.  of  T. ;  Aurora  Division  No.  9,  S.  of  T. ;  Lincoln  Division,  S.  of  T. ; 

Central  Division,  No.  12,  S.  of  T. 

Brass  Band. 
Empire  Division,  No.  18. 
Hope  Division. 
Italian  Societies. 
Brotnerhood  of  the  Union ;  Bookbinder's  Society ;  Typographical  Society 

Jewish  Congregation, 
Emery  Hospital  Band- 
Colored  Societies. 
Benevolent  Association  of  Colored  People. 
Harmony  Lodge,  No.  18,  G.  U.  0.  of  0.  F. 
Colored  Men. 
King  Hezekiali's  Pasture,  No.  3. 
I  Union  Grand  Lodge. 

The  Funeral  March. 

The  grand  and  beautiful  funeral  march,  performed  for  the  first  time  yesterday, 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN,      '  63 

by  the  Unied  States  Marine  Band,  was  composed  and  dedicated  tO'  the  occasion 
by  Brevet  Major-General  J.  G.  Barnard.    . 

The  procession  passed  from  the  President's  house  down  Fourteenth  street  to 
Pennsylvania  avenue,  and  along  the  avenue  to  the  Capitol  buildings,  where  the 
remains  of  President  Lincoln  were  laid  in  state  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol. 

All  the  soldiers  in  the  procession  marched  about  twenty-five  abreast.  Many 
of  the  civic  societies  marched  fifty  abreast,  stretching  entirely  across  Pennsylvania 
avenue. 

Washington,  Apnll9. — Early  to-day  the  streets  were  crowded  with  persons, 
thousands  of  them  from  distant  cities  and  other  localities.  Nearly  the  entire 
population  was  abroad.  By  ten  o'clock  every  prominent  point  on  the  line  of  pro- 
cession was  occupied  by  those  who  desired  to  obtain  the  best  view  of  the  solemn 
and  truly  impressive  pageant.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Executive 
Mansion  a  dense  and  unprecedently  large  crowd  had  assembled.  During  the  fore- 
noon various  bodies  had  met  at  the  Treasury  Department,  separate  rooms  having 
been  assigned  them,  and  to  these  Assistant  Secretary  Harrington,  who  had  charge 
of  the  arrangements,  delivered  tickets  of  admission  to  the  Executive  Mansion. 
They  included  the  Assistant  Secretary,  the  Assistant  Postmaster-General,  and 
the  Assistant  Attorney-General,  Senators,  and  Representatives  in  Congress 
Govenors  of  the  several  States,  the  Judiciary,  and  others  of  prominence.  None 
could  enter  the  mansion  without  tickets,  room  having  been  provided  for  six  hun- 
dred persons  only,  upon  a  raised  platform,  with  steps  on  the  east  and  north  and 
south  sides  of  the  room.  The  corpse  lay  about  the  centre,  the  space  being  re. 
served  all  around  the  catafalque  with  chairs  for  the  occupation  of  the  immediate 
family  of  the  deceased.  It  was  here  in  the  East  Room  that  the  bodies  of  Presi- 
dents Harrison  and  Taylor  lay  in  state,  but  the  arrangements  on  those  occasions 
were  far  inferior  to  the  present,  for  now  artists  had  been  employed,  contributing 
of  their  skill  and  taste  to  produce  the  best  possible  effects.  At  eleven  o'clock 
•the  guests  began  to  arrive,  a  body  of  about  sixty  clergyman,  from  all  parts  of 
the  country,  being  the  first  to  enter.  There  was  an  intervtil  of  a  few  moments 
between  the  arrivals,  and  thus  no  confusion  whatever  was  occasioned.  The  proper 
officers  were  in  attendance  to  assign  the  guests  to  their  appropriate  places  in  the 
room.  Heads  of  Government  bureaus,  Govenors  of  States,  members  of  municipal 
governments,  prominent  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  the  Diplomatic  Corps  in 
full  costume,  members  of  the  Christian  Commission,  the  Union  League  Committee 
of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  merchants  of  the  principal  cities,  members  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  and  others. 

There  were  honored  representatives,  holding  the  highest  official  stations,  from 
all  parts  of  our  own  coiintry  and  from  foreign  lands,  and  under  the  circumstance 
of  the  assasination  of  q.  Presid'ent,  whose  body  lay  before  them,  the  scene  was 
solemnly  grand  and  impressive.  At  noon  the  President  of  the  United  States 
entered,  in  company  with  his  Cabinet,  all  of  them,  excepting  Secretary  Seward. 
President  Johnson  approached  the  catafalque,  and  took  a  last  but  brief  look  at 
his  illustrious  predecessor,  and  then  retired  to  a  position  immediately  on  the  east 
and  in  full  view  of  the  coffined  remains  in  his  front. 

At  ten  minutes  past  twelve,  amid  profound  silence.  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley,  approach- 
ing the  head  of  the  catafalque,  announced  the  order  of  the  religious  services,  when 
Rev.  Dr.  Hall,  Episcopalian,  from  the  same  point,  read  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures 
according  to  the  form  of  that  Church, 

The  opening  prayer  was  made  by  Bishop  Simpson,  Methodist  Episcopal,  who 
in  the  course  of  it  said  that  in  the  hands  of  God  were  the  issues  of  Ufe  and  death. 


I 


'64:  THK    ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN, 

Oar  sins  had  called  for  his  wrath  to  descend  upon  us  as  individuals  and  as  a  com- 
munity. For  the  sake  of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  for^nveness  was  asked  for  all  our 
trangressions,  and  that  all  our  iniquities  may  be  washed  away,  while  we  bow  under 
this  sad  bereavement  which  has  caused  a  wide-spreivd  gloom,  not  only  in  this 
circle,  but  over  the  entire  land.  An  invocation  was  made  that  we  mieht  all 
submit  to  God's  holy  will.  Thanks  were  returned  for  the  gift  of  such  a  man  a.-: 
our  heavenly  Father  had  just  taken  from  us,  and  for  the  manyVirtues  which  dis- 
tinguifihed  all  his  transactions ;  for  the  integrity,  honesty,  and  transparency  of 
character  bestowed  upon  him,  and  for  having  given  him  counsellors  to  guide  our 
nation  through  perils  of  unprecedented  sorrow.  He  was  permitted  to  live  to 
behold  the  breaking  of  the  clouds  which  overhung  our  national  sky,  and  the  di? 
integration  of  the  rebellion.  Going  up  to  the  mount  he  beheld  the  land  of 
promise,  with  its  beauty  and  happiness,  and  the  glorious  destiny  reserved  for  us  as 
a  nation.  Thanks  were  also  returned  that  his  arm  was  strengthened,  and  wisdom 
and  firmness  given  to  his  heart  to  pen  a  declaration  of  emancipation,  by  which 
were  broken  the  chains  of  millions  of  the  human  race.  God  be  thanked  the 
assassin  who  struck  down  the  Chief  Magistrate  had  not  the  hand  to  again  bind 
the  suffering  and  oppressed.  The  name  of  the  beloved  dead  would  ever  be  iden- 
tified with  all  that  is  great  and  glorious  with  humanity  on  earth.  God  grant  that 
all  who  stand  here  entrusted  with  the  administration  of  public  affairs  may  have 
tht  pofver,  strength,  and  wisdom  to  complete  the  work  of  his  servant  so  gloriously 
begun,  and  may  the  successor  of  the  deceased  President  not  bear  the  sword  in 
vain.  God  grant  that  strength  may  be  given  to  him,  and  to  our  military,  to  per- 
fect victory,  and  to  complete  the  contest  now  nearly  closed.  May  the  spirit  of 
rebellion  soon  pass  away.  May  the  last  vestige  of  slavery,  which  caused  the  re- 
bellion, be  driven  from  our  land.  God  grant  that  the  sun  may  shine  on  a  free 
I)eople,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf.  Not 
.  only  safely  lead  us  through  the  struggle,  but  give  us  peace  with  all  nations  of  the 
earth.  Give  us  hearts  to  deal  justly  with  them,  and  give  them  hearts  to  deal 
justly  with  us,  so  that  universal  peace  may  reign  on  earth.  We  raise  our  hearts 
to  thee,  to  plead  thy  blessing  may  descend  on  the  family  of  the  deceased.  God 
bless  the  weeping  widow,  as  in  her  broken-heartedness  she  bows  under  a  sad 
Stroke — more  than  she  can  bear.  Encircle  her  in  thine  own  arms.  God  be 
gracious  with  the  children  left  behind  him  ;  endow  his  sons  with  wisdom  from  on 
high;  prepare  them  for  great  usefulness;  may  they  appreciate  the  patriotic 'ex- 
ample and  virtues  of  their  father,  and  walk  in  his  footsteps.  We  pray  thee,  the 
bishop  said,  to  make  the  assassination  of  personal  profit  to  our  hearts.  While  by 
the  remains  of  the  deceased,  whom  we  have  called  a  friend,  do  thou  grant  us 
grace  and  repentance  of  our  sins,  so  that  at  the  end  of  hfe  we  may  be  gathered 
where  assassins  are  not  found,  and  where  sorrow  and  sickness  never  come,  but  all 
gather  in  peace  and  love  around  the  Father's  throne  in  glery.  We  pray  thee 
tliat  our  republic  may  be  made  the  stronger  for  this  blow,  while  here  we  pledge 
ourselves  to  set  our  faces  as  a  flint  against  every  form  of  opposition  which  may 
rise  up  for  its  destruction,  so  that  we,  the  children,  may  enjoy  the  blessed  advan- 
tages of  a  government  delivered  from  our  fathers.  He  concluded  by  repeating  the 
Lord's  Prayer. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley  then  delivered  a  sermon,  standing  on  the  steps,  and  near 
the  head  of  the  cofBn.    He  commenced  by  saying : 

We  recognize  and  adore  the  sovereignty  of  God.  His  throne  is  in  the  heavens, 
and  his  kingdom  ruleth  over  all.  It  was  a  cruel  hand,  the  dark  hand  of  the 
assassin,  that  smote  our  honored,  wise,  and  noble  President,  and  filled  the  land 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLK".  65 

with  sorrow.  Biat  above  this  hand  there  is  another  which  we  must  see  and 
acknowledge.  It  is  the  chastening  hand  of  a  wise  and  faithful  God ;  he  gives  us 
the  bitter  cup ;  we  yield  to  the  behest,  and  drink  the  draught. 

This  chastisement  comes  in  a  way  heavy  and  mysteriously  deep,  at  a  time 
when  the  rebellion  was  passing  away.  The  assassin  has  stricken  down  a  man 
upon  whom  the  people  had  learned  to  trust,  and  upon  whom  more  than  upon  any 
other  had  centred  their  hopes  for  a  restoration  of  the  Union  and  a  return  of 
harmony.  In  the  midst  of  our  rejoicing  we  needed  this  stroke,  this  desecration, 
imd  therefore  God  has  sent  it.  Our  affliction  has  not  come  forth  from  the  dust 
nor  from  the  ground.  Beyond  the  act  of  assassinatfon,  let  us  look  to  God,  whose 
prerogative  it  is  to  bring  light  out  of  darkness  and  good  out  of  evil. 

He  who  has  led  us  and  well  prospered  us  so  wonderfully  during  the  last  four 
years  of  anxiety  and  conflict  will  no{  forsake  us  now.  He  may  chasten,  but  not 
destroy;  he  Inay  purify  us  in  the  furnace,  but  will  not  consume  us.  Let  our 
principal  anxiety  now  be  that  this  new  sorrow  may  be  a  sanctified  sorrow,  and 
induce  us  to  give  all  we  have  to  the  cause  of  truth,  justice,  law,  order,  liberty, 
and  good  government,  and  pure  and  undefiled  religion.  Though  weeping  may 
endure  for  a  night,  joy  cometh  in  the  morning.  Thank  God,  that  in  spite  of  this 
temporary  darkness,  the  morning  has  begun  to  dawn,  the  morning  of  a  brighter 
day  than  our  country  has  ever  before  seen.  That  day  will  come,  and  the  death 
of  a  hundred  Presidents  and  Cabinets  cannot  prevent  it.  The  people  confided  in 
!he  late  lamented  President  with  a  firm  and  loving  confidence,  which  no  other 
man  enjoyed  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He  deserved  it  well,  and  deserved 
it  all.  He  merited  it  by  hia  character  and  by  his  acts,  and  by  the  whole  tenor, 
and  tone,  and  spirit  of  his  life.  He  was  wise,  simple,  and  sincere,  plain  and 
honest,  truthful  and  just,  benevolent  and  kind.  His  perceptions  were  quick  and 
ciear,  his  judgment  was  calm  and  accurate,  and  his  purposes  were  good  and  puro 
beyond  a  question ;  always  and  everywhere  he  aimed  and  endeavored  to  be  right 
and  to  do  right.  His  integrity  was  all-pervading,  all-ccntroUing,  and  incorruptible. 
He  gave  his  personal  consideration  to  all  matters,  wl .ether  great  or  sma'il.  How 
Srmly  and  well  he  occupied  his  position,  and  met  all  its  grave  demands  in  seasons 
of  trial  and  difficulty,  is  known  to  you  all,  to  the  country,  and  to  the  world.  lie 
comprehended  all  the  enormity  of  treason,  and  rose  to  the  full  dignity  of  the 
occasion.  He  saw  his  duty  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  a  great  and  imperilled  people, 
and  leant  on  the  arm  of  Him  who  giveth  power  to  the  faint  and  who  increaseth 
strength. 

Eev.  Dr.  Gurley,  towards  the  close  of  his  address,  said : 

I  speak  what  I  know  and  testify  what  I  have  often  heard  him  say,  when  I 
affirm  that  that  guidance  and  mercy  were'  the  prop  on  which  he  humbly  and 
habitually  leaned ;  that  they  were  the  best  hope  he  had  for  himself  and  for  his 
country.  Hence,  when  he  was  leaving  his  home  in  Illinois  and  coming  to  this 
city  to  take  his  seat  in  the  executive  chair  of  a  disturbed  and  troubled  nation,  he 
i?aid  to  the  old  and  tried  friends  who  gathered  tearfully  around  him  and  bade  him 
farewell,  "  I  leave  you  with  this  request — pray  for  me."  They  did  pray  for  him. 
and  millions  of  others  prayed  for  him ;  nor  did  they  pray  in  vain.  Their  prayers 
were  heard,  and  the  answer  appears  in  all  his  subsequent  history.  It  shines  forth 
with  heavenly  radiance  in  the  whole  course  and  tenor  of  his  administration,  from 
its  commencement  to  its  close.  God  raised  him  up  for  a  great  and  glorious 
mission,  furnished  him  for  his  work,  and  aided  him  in  its  accomplishment.  Nor 
was  it  merely  by  strength  of  mind,  honesty  of  heart  and  feeling,  and  persistency 
of  purpose  that  he  furnished  him.  In  addition  to  these  things;  he  gave  him 
credit  for  a  calm  and  abiding  confidence  in  the  over-ruling  Providence  of  God, 
and  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  truth  and  righteousness  through  the  power  and 
the  blessing  of  God.  This  confidence  strengthened  him  in  all  his  hours  of 
anxiety  and  toil,  and  inspired  him  with  calm  and  cheering  hope,  while  others 
were  inclining  to  despondency  and  gloom.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  emphasis 
and  the  deep  emotion  with  which  he  said  in  this  room,  to  a  company  of  clergy- 
men and  others  who  called  to  pay  their  respects,  in  tlie  darkest  days  of  our  civil 
conflict :  "  Gentlemen,  my  hope  of  success  in  this  great  and  terrible  struggle  rests 
on  that  immutable  foundation,  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God ;  and  when  events 
are  very  threatening  and  prospects  very  dark,  I  still  hope  that  in  some  way  which 
man  cannot  see,  all  will  be  well  in  the  end,  because  our  cause  is  just  and  God  is 
on  our  side." 


66  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Such  was  his  sublime  and  holy  faith,  and  it  was  an  anchor  to  his  soul  both  sure 
and  steadfast.  It  made  him  firm  and  strong,  it  emboldened  him  in  the  pathway 
of  duty,  however  rugged  and  perilous  it  might  be.  It  made  him  valiant  for  the 
right,  for  the  cause  of  God  and  humanity,  and  it  held  him  in  steady,  patient,  and 
unswerving  adherence  to  a  policy  of  administration  which  he  thought,  and  which 
we  all  now  think,  both  God  and  humanity  required  him  to  adopt.  We  admired 
and  loved  him  on  many  accounts,  for  strong  and  various  reasons.  "We  admired 
his  childlike  simplicity,  his  freedom  from  guile  and  deceit,  his  staunch  and  sterling 
integrity,  his  kind  and  forgiving  temper,  his  industry  and  patience,  his  persistent 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  all  the  duties  of  his  eminent  position.  From  the  least 
to  the  greatest,  his  readiness  to  hear  and  consider  the  cause  of  the  poor  and 
humble,  the  suffering,  the  oppressed ;  his  charity  towards  those  who  questioned 
the  correctness  of  his  opinions  and  the  wisdom  of  his  policy ;  his  wonderful  skill 
in  reconciling  differences  among  the  friends  of  the  Union,  leading  them  away  from 
abstractions,  and  inducing  them  to  work  together  and  harmoniously  for  the  com- 
mon weal ;  his  true  and  enlarged  philanthropy,  that  knew  no  difference  of  color 
or  race,  but  regarded  all  men  as  brethren,  and  endowed  alike  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  amongst  which  are  "  Ufe,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness ;"  his  inflexibility  of  purpose  that  what  freedom  had  gained  in  our 
terrible  civil  strife  should  never  be  lost,  and  that  the  end  of  the  war  should  be  the 
end  of  slavery,  and,  as  a  consequence,  of  rebellion ;  his  readiness  to  spend  and  be 
spent  for  the  attainment  of  such  a  triumph,  the  blessed  fruits  of  which  should  be 
as  wide-spreading  as  the  earth,  and  as  enduring  as  the  sun — all  these  things  com- 
manded and  fixed  our  admiration,  and  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  stamped 
upon  his  character  and  Kfe  the  unmistakable  impress  of  greatness.  But  more 
sublime  than  any  or  all  of  these,  more  holy  and  influential,  more  beautiful  and 
strong  and  sustaining,  was  his  abiding  confidence  in  God,  and  in  the  final  triumph 
of  truth  and  righteousness  through  him  and  for  his  sake.  This  was  his  noblest 
virtue,  his  grandest  principle — the  secret  alike  of  his  strength,  his  patience,  and 
his  success  ;  and  this,  it  seems  to  me,  after  being  near  him  steadily  and  with  him 
often  for  more  than  four  years,  is  the  principle  by  which,  more  than  by  any  other, 
"  he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh."  Yet,  by  his  steady,  enduring  confidence  in  God. 
and  in  the  complete  ultimate  success  of  the  cause  of  God,  which  is  the  cause  of 
humanity,  more  than  in  any  other  way,  does  he  now  speak  to  us  and  to  the  nation 
he  loved  and  ser.ved  so  well.  By  this  he  speaks  to  his  successor  in  office,  and 
charges  him  to  have  faith  in  God.  By  this  he  speaks  to  t!ie  members  of  his 
Cabinet,  the  men  with  whom  he  counselled  so  often  and  was  associated  with  so 
long,  and  he  charges  them  to  have  faith  in  God.  By  this  he  speaks  to  all  who 
occupy  positions  of  influence  and  authority  in  these  sad  and  troublous  times,  and 
charges  all  to  have  faith  in  God.  By  this  he  speaks  to  this  great  people  as  they 
sit  in  sackcloth  to-day,  and  weep  for  him  with  a  bitter  wailing  and  refuse  to  be 
comforted ;  and  he  charges  them  to  have  faith  in  God ;  and  by  this  he  will  speak 
through  the  ages  and  to  all  rulers  and  peoples  in  every  land,  and  his  message  to 
them  will  be,  "  Cling  to  Liberty  and  Right ;  battle  for  them,  bleed  for  them,  die 
for  them,  if  need  be,  and  have  confidence  in  God."  Oh !  that  the  voice  of  this 
testimony  may  sink  down  into  our  hearts  to-day,  and  every  day,  and  into  the 
heart  of  the  nation,  and  exert  its  appropriate  influence  upon  our  feelinjs,  our 
faith,  our  patience,  and  our  devotion  to  the  cause,  now  dearer  to  us  than  ever 
before,  because  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  its  most  conspicuous  defender,  its 
wisest  and  most  fondly  trusted  friend.  He  is  dead,  but  tlie  God  in  whom  he 
trusted  lives,  and  he  can  guide  and  strengthen  his  successor  as  he  guided  and 
strengthened  him.  He  is  dead,  but  the  memory  of  his  virtues,  of  bis  voice  and 
patriotic  counsels  and  labors,  of  his  calm  and  steady  faith  in  God,  lives,  is  precious,, 
and  will  be  a  power  for  good  in  the  country  quite  down  to  the  end  of  time.  He 
is  dead,  but  the  cause  he  so  ardently  loved,  so  ably,  patiently,  and  faithfully  repre- 
sented and  defended — not  for  himself  only,  not  for  us  only,  but  for  all  people  ia 
all  their  generations,  till  time  shall  be  no  more.  That  cause  survives  his  fall,  and 
must  survive  it.  The  light  of  its  brightening  prospects  flashes  cheerlngly  to-day 
athwart  the  gloom  occasioned  by  his  death,  and  the  language  oi'  God's  united 
providences  is  telling  us  that  though  the  friends  of  liberty  die,  liberty  itself  >3 
im.mortal.  There  is  no  assassin  strong  enough  and  no  weapon  deadly  enough  to 
quench  its  inextinguishable  Hfe  or  arrest  its  onward  march  to  the  conquest  and 
empire  of  the  world.    This  is  our  confidence  and  this  ifl  our  consolation,  as  we 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  67  . 

weep  an  J  mourn  to-day.  Though  our  beloved  President  is  slain,  our  beloved 
country  is  saved,  and  so  we  sing  of  mercy  as  well  as  of  judgment.  Tears  of  gTati- 
tude  mingle  with  those  of  sorrow,  while  there  is  al^  the  dawning  of  a  brighter, 
happier  day  upon  our  stricken  and  weary  land.  God  be  praised  that  our  fallen 
chief  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  day  dawn  and  the  day  star  of  joy  and  peace 
arise  upon  thejriation.     He  saw  it,  and  he  was  glad. 

Alas  !  alas  !  he  only  saw  the  dawn.  AVhen  the  sun  has  risen  full  orbed  and 
glorious,  and  a  happy,  reunited  people  are  rejoicing  in  its  light,  it  will  shine  upon 
his  grave ;  but  that  grave  will  be  a  precious  and  a  consecrated  spot.  The  friends 
of  liberty  and  of  the  Union  will  repair  to  it  in  years  and  ages  to  come  to  pro- 
nounce the  memory  of  its  occupant  blessed,  and  gather  from  his  very  ashes  and 
from  the  rehearsal  of  his  deeds  and  virtues  fresh  incentives  to  patriotism.  They 
will  then  renew  their  vows  of  fidelity  to  their  country  and  their  God. 

Eev.  Dr.  Gray,  Baptist,  closed  the  solemn  services  by  delivering  a  prayer,  con- 
cluding as  follows : 

God  of  the  bereaved,  comfort  and  sustain  the  mourning  family ;  bless  the  new 
Chief  Magistrate.  0  let  the  mantle  of  his  predecessor  fall  upon  him.  Bless  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  his  family ;  0  God,  if  possible,  according  to  thy  will,  spare 
their  lives  that  they  may  render  still  important  service  to  the  country.  Bless 
all  the  members  of  the  cabinet ;  endow  them  with  wisdom  from  above.  Bless 
the  commanders  in  our  armies  and  navy,  and  all  the  brave  defenders  of  the  coun- 
try. Give  them  continued  success.  Bless  the  ambassadors  from  foreign  courts, 
and  give  us  peace  with  the  nations  of  the  earth.  0  God  1  let  treason,  that  has 
deluged  our  land  with  blood,  and  desolated  our  country,  and  bereaved  our  homes, 
and  filled  them  with  widows  and  orphans,  which  has  at  length  culminated  in  the 
assassination  of  the  nation's  choosen  ruler,  God  of  justice  and  avenger  of  tlie 
nation's  wrongs,  let  the  work  of  treason  cease,  and  let  the  guilty  perpetrators  of 
this  horrible  crime,  be  arrested  and  brought  to  justice.  Oh !  hear  the  cry  and 
the  prayer  and  the  wail  now  rising  from  a  nation's  smitten  and  crushed  heart,  and 
deliver  us  from  the  power  of  our  enemies,  and  send  speedy  peace  into  all  our  borders 
through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.  Amen. 

The  corpse  was  then  removed  to  the  hearse,  which  was  in  front  of  the  door  of 
the  Executive  Mansion,  and  at  two  o'clock  the  procession  was  formed.  It  took 
the  line  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  The  streets  were  kept  clear  of  all  incumbrance, 
but  the  sidewalks  were  densely  lined  with  people  from  the  "White  House  to  the 
Capitol,  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half.  House-tops,  porticoes,  the  windows  of 
every  house,  and  all  elevated  points  were  occupied  by  interested  spectators. 

As  the  procession  started,  minute  guns  were  fired  near  St.  John's  Church,  the 
City  Hall,  and  at  the  Capitol.  The  bells  of  all  the  churches  in  the  city,  and  the 
various  fire-engines,  were  tolled.  First  in  the  order  of  procession  was  a  detach- 
ment of  colored  troops  ;  then  followed  white  regiments  of  infantry  and  bodies  of 
artillery  and  cavalry ;  navy,  marine,  and  army  officers  on  foot ;  the  pall  bearers  in 
carriages ;  next  the  hearse,  drawn  by  six  white  horses,  the  coffin  prominent  to 
every  beholder.  The  floor  on  which  it  rested  was  strewn  with  evergreens,  and 
the  coffin  covered  with  white  flowers.  The  Diplomatic  Corps,  members  of  Con- 
gress, Govenors  of  States,  delegations  of  various  States,  fire  companies,  civic  as- 
sociations, clerks  of  the  various  departments,  and  others,  all  in  the  order  of  the 
procession,  together  with  many  public  and  private  carriages,  all  closing  up  with 
a  large  number  of  colored  men.  The  body  was  conveyed,  to  and  deposited  in  the 
rotunda  of  the  Capitol, 

The  nearest  relation  of  the  late  President's  family  now  here,  are  the  two  sons 
of  the  deceased,  namely,  Captain  Eobert  and  Thaddeus  Lincoln;  N.  W.  Edwards 
and  C.  M.  Smith,  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  brothers-in-law  of  the  late  President,  and 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  Todd,  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  Gen.  T.  B.  S.  Todd,  of  Dacotah, 
cousins  of  Mrs.  Lincoln.  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  not  present  at  the  funeral ;  it  is  said 
that  she  has  not  even  seen  her  husband's  corpse  since  the  morning  of  his  decease. 


f^a  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

Washingtori,  April  19. — All  the  foreign  ministers,  with  their  attaches,  in  all 
fifty -six  in  number,  were  present  at  the  funeral  service  at  the  Executive  Mansion 
to-day.  Their  place  in  the  procession  was  directly  after  the  President  and  cabinet 
ministers.  This  for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  was  in  accordance  with  the  usage 
of  foreign  nations,  where  the  Diplomatic  Corps  follow  the  monarch.  Heretofore 
they  have  been  placed  in  the  programme  after  the  ex-Presidents,  the  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  members  of  Congress.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  head  of 
the  procession  at  the  east  front  of  the  Capitol  to-day,  the  coffin  having  been  borne 
t-o  the  centre  of  the  rotunda,  the  President  standing  at  the  foot  of  the-coffin,  sur- 
rounded by  a  throng  of  Senators  and  high  military  officers,  and  a  small  number 
of  Illinoians,  as  chief  mourners,  the  entire  company  filling  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  entire  place.  Dr.  Gurley,  at  the  head  of  the  coffin,  uttered  a  few  brief  and 
impressive  remarks,  chiefly  in  the  words  of'Scripture,  consigning  the  dead  ashes, 
once  animated  by  the  soul  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  to  the  course  of  nature,  to  return 
to  its  original  dust.  The  deep  tones  of  his  voice  reverberated  from  the  vast  walls 
and  ceiling  of  the  great  rotunda,  now  first  used  for  such  a  pageant,  and  during  the 
impressive  scene  many  were  affected  to  tears. 


THE  NATION'S  LOSS. 

{April  mil,  1865.) 

Oh  woe  !  oh  woe  !  oh  woe  ! 

What  awful  sudden  blow 
Has  changed  to  funeral  moans  our  songs  of  exultation ! 

But  yesterday  so  bright, 

To-day  in  darkest  night 
Are  quenched  the  blazing  lights  of  joy's  illumination, 

We  stagger  to  and  fro, 

Ourselves  struck  by  the  blow. 
Of  this  most  vile,  most  foul,  most  fell  assassination. 

The  truth  to  credit  slow, 

We  ask :  Can  it  be  so  ? 

Is  he  indeed  laid  low. 
The  ruler  wise  and  firm,  and  faithful  of  this  nation  ? 

Oh  grievous,  grievous  loss  ! 

Oh  heavy,  heavy  cross ! 
This  orphaned  nation's  heart  is  tottering,  reeling  under  1 

From  a  smiling  azure  sky. 

In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
Down  crashed  the  fearful  bolt  that  cleft  our  Head  asunder, 

Alas  !  now  shattered  lies 

That  Head  so  calm  and  wise. 
Alike  for  goodness  famed,  for  strength  and  moderation ; 

With  eyes  that  tears  bedim, 

With  hearts  full  to  the  brim, 

We  lose,  we  mourn  in  him, 
Alike  with  Washington,  a  Father  of  this  Nation  I 

Oh  horrid,  horrid  crime, 

Bred  in  the  foulest  slime 
Of  Slavery's  loathsome  pool,  all  rotting  with  stagnation  I 

Oh,  dastard,  dastard  crime. 

Unheard  of  in  this  clime, 
'  Where  men  wage  open  war,  but  scorn  assassination. 

Oh  senseless,  senseless  crime, 

Committed  at  a  time 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF  PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  89 

Of  reawakening  hopes  of  peace  and  conciliation ! 

Alas  !  what  dost  thou  gain  ? 

In  fury  blind,  insane, 

The  mild  one  thou  hast  slain, 

A  sterner  now  will  reign, 

And  thou  hast  roused  again 
Tlie  slumbering  thunderbolts  of  Wrath's  retaliation. 

But,  nation  deeply  bowed, 

Be  all  thy  grief  allowed, 
Allowed  be  too  thy  wrath,  thy  righteous  indignation  1 

But,  like  thy  martyred  chief. 

Temper  thy  wrath  and  grief, 
With  noble  self-control  and  generous  moderation. 

Be  just!  give  each  his  due, 

Let  those  be  slain  who  slew. 
Be  blood  for  blood,  the  fair  and  lawful  reparation  ! 

But,  Justice  satisfied. 

Let  Wisdom  be  thy  guide, 

Keep  Mercy  at  thy  side, 
Finish  thy  sacred  task,  our  Union's  restoration  I 

Then  from  the  firmament 
Will  he  whom  we  lament, 
Our  nation's  martyred  saint, 
Wearing  a  golden  crown, 
Benignantly  look  down. 
And  let  his  blessing  rest  for  aye  upon  this  nation. 

Emmanuel  Vitalis  Scherb,  from  Switzerland. 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  THE  PAINTER. 

As  every  thing  connected  with  the  personal  history  of  our  late  murdered  Presi- 
dent nas  now  acquired  a  thrilling  interest  with  the  public,  we  make  no  excuse 
for  giving  the  following  incident  in  his  life : 

I  have  been  urged  by  several  friends  to  send  you  the  enclosed  poem,  written 
down  by  myself  from  Mr.  Lincoln's  lips,  and  although  it  may  not  be  new  to  all 
of  your'readers,  the  events  of  the  last  week  give  it  now  a  peculiar  interest. 

The  circumstances  under  which  this  copy  was  written  are  these  :  I  was  with  the 
President  alone  one  evening,  in  his  room,  during  the  time  I  was  painting  my  larg-e 
picture  at  the  White  House,  last  year.  He  presently  threw  aside  his  pen  and 
papers,  and  began  to  talk  to  me  of  Shakespeare.  He  sent  little  "  Tad,"  his  son, 
to  the  library  to  bring  a  copy  of  the  plays,  and  then  read  to  me  several  of  his 
favorite  passages,  showing  genuine  appreciation  of  the  great  poet.  Relapsing 
ipto  a  sadder  strain,  he  laid  the  book  aside,  and,  leaning  back  in  his  chair,  said  : 

"  There  is  a  poem  which  has  been  a  great  favorite  with  me  for  years,  which  was 
IJrst  shown  to  me  when  a  young  man  by  a  friend,  and  which  I  afterward  saw  and 
cut  from  a  newspaper,  and  learned  by  heart.  I  would,"  he  continued,  "  give  a 
^reat  deal  to  know  who  wrote  it,  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  ascertain." 

Then,  half  closing  his  eyes,  he  repeated  to  me  the  lines  which  I  enclose  to  you. 
Greatly  pleased  and  interested,  I  told  him  I  would  Uke,  if  ever  an  opportunity  oc- 
curred, to  write  them  down  from  his  lips.  He  said  he  would  sometime  try  to 
give  them  to  me.  A  few  days  afterward  he  asked  me  to  accompany  him  to  the 
temporary  studio  of  Mr.  Swayne,  the  sculptor,  who  was  making  a  bust  of  him  at 
the  Treasury  Department.  While  he  was  sitting  for  the  bust  I  was  suddenly  re- 
minded of  the  poem,  and  said  to  him  that  then  would  be  a  goed  time  to  dictate  it 
to  me.  He  complied,  and  sitting  upon  some  books  at  his  feet,  as  nearly  as  I  can 
remember,  I  wrote  the  lines  down,  one  by  one,  from  his  lips. 

With  great  regard,  very  truly  yours, 

F.  B.  Carpbntkb.,  . 


I 


iO  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN". 


Oh !  why  should  the  Spirit  of  Mortal  be  Proud  P* 

Oh,  -why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud  ? 
Like  a  swift,  fleeing  meteor,  a  fast  flying  cloud, 
A  flash  of  the  lightning,  a  break  of  the  wave, 
He  passeth  from  life  to  his  rest  in  the  grave;. 

The  leaves  of  the  oak  and  the  willow  shall  fade, 
Be  scattered  around  and  together  be  laid ; 
And  the  young  and  the  old,  and  the  low  and  the  high 
Shall  moulder  to  dust  and  together  shall  lie. 

The  infant  a  mother  attended  and  loved ; 
The  mother  that  infant's  affection  who  proved ; 
The  husband  that  mother  and  infant  who  blessed. 
Each,  all,  are  away  to  their  dwellings  of  Rest. 

The  hand  of  the  king  that  the  sceptre  hath  borne ; 
The  brow  of  the  priest  that  the  mitre  hath  worn ; 
The  eye  of  the  sage  and  the  heart  of  the  brave, 
Are  hidden  and  lost  in  the  depths  of  the  graven 

The  peasant,  whose  lot  was  to  sow  and  to  reap ; 
The  herdsman  who  climbed  with  his  goats  up  the  steep  ; 
The  beggar  who  wandered  in  search  of  his  bread. 
Have  faded  away  like  the  grass  that  we  tread. 

So  the  multitude  goes,  like  the  flower  or  the  weed 
That  withers  away  to  let  others  succeed ; 
So  the  multitude  comes,  even  those  we  behold, 
To  repeat  every  tale  that  has  often  been  told. 

For  we  are  the  same  our  fathers  have  been : 
'We  see  the  same  sights  our  fathers  have  seen — 
We  drink  the  same  stream  and  view  the  same  sun — 
And  run  the  same  course  our  fathers  have  run. 

The  thoughts  we  are  thinking  our  fathers  would  think ; 
From  the  death  we  are  shrinking  our  fathers  would  shrink ; 
To  the  life  we  are  clinging  they  also  would  cling : 
But  it  speeds  for  us  all,  like  a  bird  on  the  wing. 

They  loved,  but  the  story  we  cannot  unfold ; 
They  egorned,  but  the  heart  of  the  haughty  is  cold ; 
They  grieved,  but  no  wail  from  their  slumber  will  come ; 
They  joyed,  but  the  tongue  of  their  gladness  is  dumb. 

They  died,  aye  !  they  died ;  we  things  that  are  now, 
Tnat  walk  on  the  turf  that  lies  over  their  brow, 
And  make  in  their  dwellings  a  transient  abode. 
Meet  the  things  that  they  met  on  their  pilgrimage  road. 

Yea !  hope  and  despondency,  pleasure  and  pain, 
We  mingle  together  in  sunshine  and  rain ; 
And  thesmile  and  the  tear,  the  song  and  the  dirge, 
Still  follow  each  other,  like  surge  upon  surge. 

'Tis  the  wink  of  an  eye,  'tis  the  draught  of  a  breath ; 
From  the  blossom  of  health  to  the  paleness  of  death. 
From  the  gilded  saloon  to  the  bier  and  the  shroud — 
Oh.  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud  ?' 

•  [TbU  poem  is  by  Wm.  Knox,  a  Scottish  poet,  -who  died  in  1S25.    It  is  preserved  in  a  ooHecUon  eaUtled 
ClMistiaa  Ballads,"  edited  by  the  late  E.  W.  Griiwold,  D.D.—Pttbiiaher.] 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  71 


LINCOLN  MONUMENT  AT   FAIRMOUNT  PARK. 

The  late  President  Lincoln  has  become  immortal.  Millions  in  future  genera/- 
tions  will  revere  his  name.  It  will  go  to  posterity  with  that  of  Washington,  and, 
like  it,  become  all  the  brighter  as  time  progresses.  Although  it  is  not  absolutely 
necessary  to  erect  a  material  monument  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  President 
Lincoln  any  more  than  for  Washington,  yet  such  a  memento  would  exhibit  the 
respect  entertained  by  the  people  of  the  present  time  for  the  great  chief  who  has 
fallen.  It  is,  therefore,  suggested  to  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  that  measures 
be  adopted  to  have  a  monument  erected  at  Fairmount  Park  in  memory 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  sixteenth  President  of  the  United  States.  The  City 
Councils  would  be  a  proper  body  to  give  shape  to  the  necessary  proceedings 
The  people  would  respond  to  any  well-digested  suggestion  having  in  view  the 
speedy  erection  of  a  grand  towering  monument  to  the  most  illustrious  man  of 
the  age. 

Independence  Hall. 

This  time-honored  place  has  been  arranged  for  the  reception  of  the  remains  of 
the  deceased  President  Lincoln.  It  is  dressed  in  solemn  grandeur,  inspiring  a 
sacred  awe  to  those  who  enter  beneath  its  sombre  shades.  The  old  chandeUer  i.s 
entirely  enveloped  in  deep  folds  of  black,  and  from  the  centre  of  the  shaft  the 
long  robes  of  material  pend  in  graceful  festoons — spring,  so  to  speak,  from  a  base 
line  just  above  the  windows.  This  forms  a  sort  of  tent-covering.  The  black 
drapery  is  continued  upon  the  walls,  covering  every  thing  from  view  except  the 
following :  The  likeness  of  Martha  Washington,  that  of  Wm.  Penn,  Gen.  Jackson, 
Gen.  La  Fafayette,  Gen.  Harrison,  and  the  beautiful  painting  representing  Wash- 
ington on  horseback  at  the  head  of  his  army.  The  paintings  are  festooned  with 
drapery,  the  whole  being  done  in  artistic  style.  The  pedestal  containing  the  old 
bell  is  elaborately  draped.  It  is  designed  to  place  the  head  of  the  bier  against  or 
towards  the  pedestal,  so  that  the  motto  on  the  bell  will  be  near  the  head  of  the 
honored  deceased,  "Proclaim  Liberty  throughout  the  land  and  unto  all  the  in- 
habitants thereof.'-'  Steps  will  be  placed  leading  to  the  two  front  windows  of  the 
hall,  so  that  two  entrances  will  be  afforded  the  citizens.  They  will  make  their  exit 
through  two  windows,  to  the  rear,  on  Independence  Square.  The  parties  so  en- 
tering will  pass  in  single  file  on  both  sides  of  the  deceased.  This  arrangement  will 
allow  twice  as  many  to  pass  in  review  of  tlie  body  than  if  the  old  plan  had  been 
adhered  to.  Allowing  one  person  each  second  to  pass  in  review,  would  be  equiva- 
lent to  7,200  per  hour. 

A  Noble  Sentiment. 

We  clip  the  following  from  the  Philadelphia  Sunday  Times  of  Sunday : 

"  Cue  Nation's  Loss. — If  our  columns  do  not  contain  the  variety  with  which  we 
usually  strive  to  fill  them,  our  readers  must  attribute  it  to  the  deadening  influence 
of  the  terrible  calamity  of  Friday  night.  With  our  feelings-absorbed  by  the  con- 
flicting sentiments  aroused  by  the  unprecedented  crime  committed  in  Washing- 
ton, we  are  unable  to  write  upon  general  subjects.  The  grief  that  caused  the 
suspension  of  business  yesterday,  is  felt  as  much  in  editorial  rooms  as  in  counting- 
houses  and  offices,  and  the  pen  refuses  to  chronicle  any  thing  disconnected  with 
the  bereavement  of  the  nation. 

Every  loyal  citizen  feels  as  if  a  near  relative  had  been  lost,  and  many  of  those 
who  never  saw  the  President  experience  the'same  solemn  regret  as  if  he  had  been 
a  familiar  friend.  In  the  sudden  falling  of  this  unexpected  blow  the  country  is 
stuimed,  and  is  as  yet  unable  to  realize  the  loss.     Coming  in  the  hour  of  so  much 


72  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

rejoicing,  when  twenty  millions  of  people  were  exulting  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
strongest  bulwark  of  the  Rebellion,  its  severity  is  doubled.  'J'he  religious  festival 
of  Easter  is  as  much  clouded  by  this  catastrophe  as  the  fasts  of  Passion  Week 
were  cheered  by  the  news  of  our  military  successes. 

"Again  the  hand  of  Providence  strikes  the  balance ;  we  gain,  and  we  lose.  In 
our  weeping  eyes  the  single  loss  outweighs  a  thousand  such  gains,  and  there  is 
needed  a  greater  exercise  of  religion  and  philosophy  than  can  be  controlled  by  the 
majority  of  men,  to  say  that  '  all  is  for  the  best.'  In  our  hour  of  deepest  need,  the 
President  was  given  to  us  by  heaven,  and  on  Good  Friday,  the  Day  of  Sacrifice, 
the  day  on  which  our  Redeemer  suffered  on  the  cross  for  our  sins,  he  is  required 
from  us.    Truly,  '  the  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away.'  " 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  IN    INDEPENDENCE   HALL. 

We  reprint  here  the  report  of  the  speech  of  the  late  President  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  Indep'endence  Hall,  on  February  22d,  1861,  (Washington's  birthday), 
when  he  was  on  his  route  to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  his  Inauguration. 
It  was  his  first  speech  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  portions  which  we  have  italicised 
give  evidence  both  that  he  looked  forward  to  the  probability  of  assassination,  and 
that  what  he  said  or  did,  he  was,  God  willing,  "  ready  to  die  by." 

I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself  standing  here  in  the  place 
where  were  collected  together  the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple, (rora  which  sprung  the  institutions  under  which  we  live.  You  have  kindly 
suggested  to  me,  that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to  our  distracted 
country.  I  can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  sentiments  I  entertain 
have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments 
which  originated,  and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall  in  which  we  stand. 
I  have  never  had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not  spring  from  the  seutunents 
embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  often  pondered  over  the 
clangers  which  were  incurred  by  the  men  who  assembled  here,  and  adopted  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were  endured 
by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  w^ho  achieved  that  independence.  I  have 
often  inquired  of  myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that  kept  this  Con- 
federacy so  long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere  matter  of  the  separation  of  the 
colonies  from  the  mother  land,  but  something  in  that  Declaration  giving  liberty, 
not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country,  but  hope  for  the  world  for  all  future  time. 
It  was  that  which  gave  promise  that  in  due  time  the  weights  should  be  lifted 
from  the  shoulders  of  all  men,  and  that  all  should  have  an  equal  chance.  This  is 
the  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

How,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  upon  that  basis  ?  If  it  can,  I  will 
consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If 
it  can't  be  saved  upon  that  principle  it  will  be  truly  awful.  But  if  this  country 
cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I  would  rather 
be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  to  surrender  it." 

Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there  is  no  need  of  bloodshed 
and  war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course,  and  I 
may  say  in  advance  there  will  be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  Government  will  not  use  force  unless  force  is  used  against  it. 
[Prolonged  applause,  and  cries  of  "That's  the  proper  sentiment."]  My  friends, 
ihis  is  a  wholly  unprepared  speech.  I  did  not  expect  to  be  called  upon  to  say  a 
word  when  I  came  here.  I  supposed  I  was  merely  to  do  something  towards  raising 
Ihis  flag.  I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something  indiscreet.  But  I  have  said 
nothing  but  what  I  am  willing  to  li'.e  by,  and,  in  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God, 
die  by." 

We  reproduce  this  report  verbatim,  the  President  himself  having  mentioned  to 
OUT  Reporter  that  it  was  the  most  faithful  verbal  interpretation  in  type  of  any  of 


THE   ASSASSIN'ATION    OF   PP.ESIDENT   LINCOLX.  73 

his  speeches  which  had  ever  been  made.  We  reproduce  it,  not  on  acconnt  of 
this,  but  with  the  simple  impulse  to  lay  before  our  fellow-citizens  the  first  words 
ever  uttered  in  public  in  this  city  by  Abraham  Lincoln — the  more  especially  as 
they  mark  the  idea  which  had  so  frequently  obtruded  itself  upon  his  mind,  that 
he  might  ultimately  become  the  victim  of  sectional  vengeance. 


LETTER  PROM  "OCCASIONAL." 

Washington,  April  19,  1865. — It  is  precisely  four  years  since  the  mob  at  Balti- 
more fired  upon  the  Massachusetts  volunteers  on  their  way  to  the  defence  of 
Washington.  How  strange  it  is  that  the  anniversaries  of  some  of  the  brightest 
and  some  of  the  saddest  events  should  have  been  greeted  by  a  great  victory  or  a 
great  calamity  !  Lee  fled  before  the  triumphant  legions  of  Meade  on  the  Fourth 
of  July.  Grant  captured  Vicksburg  on  the  same  day.  Lincoln  fell  on  the  anni- 
versary of  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Sumpter,  and  his  honored  corpse  is  borne  to  its 
resting  place  on  the  same  day  when,  four  years  ago,  the  first  Northern  blood  was 
shed  by  traitor  hands.  And  yet  more  expressive  still — and  I  name  it  not  to  be 
betrayed  into  irreverent  comparisons — our  good  President,  after  ail  his  acts  of 
forgiveness  of  the  enemies  of  his  country,  died  at  their  hands  on  Good  Friday,  the 
day  of  the  Crucifixion  of  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  man.  And  I  firmly 
believe  if  Mr.  Lincoln  could  have  spoken  after  the  fatal  shot  of  the  assassin  had 
shattered  his  brain,  he  would  have  exclaimed  of  his  murderer :  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  And  why  did  they  not  know  it? 
Because  they  were  taking  the  life  of  their  best  friend — he  who  had  pardoned  so 
many  of  their  associates,  and  who,  only  three  evenings  before,  had  spoken  authori- 
tative words  of  clemency  and  reconciliation. 

And  do  we  ever  reflect,  in  the  midst  of  our  grief  and  wonder  that  such  a  deed 
should  have  stained  this  age  of  progress  and  refinement,  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
could  have  died  at  no  time  when  his  surpassing  excellence  would  have  shone  with 
so  rare  an  effulgence  ?  He  passed  from  us  as  the  land  was  echoing  with  songd 
of  joy  over  the  triumphs  of  liberty.  He  entered  upon  eternity  as  a  pious  people 
were  thanking  God  that  he  had  stricken  our  country's  foe.  How  much  better 
than  if  he  had  gone  from  us  in  the  gloom  of  national  despondency  I  Even  as  the 
summons  came,  there  was  a  wondrous  peace  at  his  heart,  and  a  felicitous  sense 
of  duty  done.  No  monarch  ever  had  such  a  funeral.  Although  not  so  elaborate 
and  ornate  as  the  pageant  of  the  dead  Eighth  Henry,  or  the  return  of  Napoleon 
to  the  soil  of  France  after  he  had  fretted  and  smouldered  away  in  the  rocky  island 
of  the  sea,  it  was  the  proudest  tribute  ever  paid  to  the  memory  of  an  American 
President.  The  suddenness  and  the  manner  of  his  death  intensified  the  national 
sorrow,  and  called  forth  a  burst  of  popular  gratitude  without  a  parallel.  I  wish  I 
could  describe  the  wondrous  scene.  It  was  a  lovely  day.  The  air  was  filled  with 
the  perfume  and  the  harmonies  of  jocund  spring.  Crowds  had  come  from  all  the 
States.  The  government  was  typified  in  Andrew  Johnson  ;  the  army  was  repre- 
sented by  Grant  and  his  staff;  the  navy  by  Farragut  and  his  sea-Hons ;  the 
judiciary  by  Chase  and  his  associates ;  the  Cabinet,  the  Congress,  the  depart- 
ments, the  freedmen,  the  released  prisoners,  the  penitent  rebels,  the  clergy,  the 
professions — the  People,  the  base  of  the  mighty  pyramid,  the  foundation  of  pri- 
vate rights  and  public  safety.  I  leave  to  others  the  filling  up  of  the  picture.  Let 
me  borrow  from  an  old-fashioned  New-England  poet,  the  beautiful  wreath  he  W0Y» 


74  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PEESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

for  AVashington,  that  I  may  lay  it  on  the  great  flag  that  covers  and  canonizes  all 
that  is  left  of  Abraham  Lincoln  : 

"  Before  the  splendors  of  thy  high  renown 
How  fade  the  glow-worm  lustres  of  a  crown ; 
How  sink,  diminished,  in  that  radiance  lost, 
The  glare  of  conquest,  and  of  power  the  boast ! 
Let  Greece  her  Alexander's  deeds  proclaim, 
Or  Caesar's  triumphs  gild  the  Roman  name ; 
Stript  of  the  dazzling  glare  aroimd  them  cast, 
Shrinks  at  their  crimes  humanity  aghast. 
With  equal  claiiu  to  honor's  glorious  meed, 
See  Attila  his  course  of  havoc  lead ; 
O'er  Asia's  realm,  in  one  vast  ruin  hurl'd, 
See  furious  Zinge's  bloody  flag  unfurl'd. 
On  base  far  different  from  the  conqueror's  claim 
Rests  the  unsullied  column  of  thy  fame — 
His,  on  the  graves  of  millions  proudly  based, 
With  blood  cemented,  and  with  tears  defaced ; 
Thine,  on  a  nation's  welfare  fixed  sublime ; 
By  Freedom  strengthened,  and  revered  by  Time. 
He,  as  the  comet,  whose  portentous  light 
Spreads  baleful  splendor  o'er  the  gloom  of  night, 
With  dire  amazement  chills  the  startled  breast, 
While  storms,  and  earthquakes  dread,  its  course  attest ; 
And  nature  trembles,  lest  in  chaos  hurl'd 
Should  sink  the  tottering  fragment  of  the  world ; 
Thine  like  the  sun,  whose  kind,  propitious  ray 
Opes  the  glad  morn,  and  lights  the  fields  of  day. 
Dispels  the  wintry  storm,  the  chilling  rain. 
With  rich  abundance  clothes  the  fertile  plain, 
Gives  all  creation  to  rejoice  around. 
And  light  and  life  extends  o'er  nature's  utmost  bound. 
Though  shone  thy  life  a  model  bright  of  praise. 
Not  less  the  example  bright  thy  death  pOrtrays  ; 
When,  plunged  in  deepest  wo,  around  thy  bed 
Each  eye  was  fixed,  despairing  sunk  each  head, 
While  nature  struggled  with  extremest  pain, 
And  scarce  could  life's  last  lingering  powers  retain; 
In  that  dread  moment,  awfully  serene, 
No  trace  of  suffering  marked  thy  placid  mien ; 
No  groan,  no  naurmuring  plaint  escaped  thy  tongue ; 
No  longing  shadows  o'er  thy  brow  were  hung ; 
But,  calm  in  Christian  hopes,  undamp'd  with  fear. 
Thou  sawest  the  high  reward  of  virtue  near. 
On  that  bright  meed,  in  surest  trust  reposed. 
As  thy  firm  hand  thine  eyes  expiring  closed. 
Pleased,  to  the  will  of  Heaven  resigned  thy  breath, 
And  smiled  as  nature's  struggles  closed  in  death," 


THE  FUNERAL  CORTEGE. 

'Washington,  April  19. — This  nineteenth  day  of  April  marks  an  epoch  m  our 
history.  Four  years  ago  to-day.  Union  soldiers  coming  to  the  defence  of  the 
National  Capitol  were  murdered  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore.  To-day  the  funeral 
obsequies  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  fell  by  an  assassin's  hand,  have  been  per- 
formed. He  has  saved  the  nation,  himself  he  could  not  save.  The  murderous 
spirit  of  the  rebellion  and  of  slavery  culminated  in  the  violent  death  of  our  greatest 
chieftain,  and  found  a  willing  instrimient  in  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  to  carry  out  the 


•  1 


MRS.      LINCOLN. 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  85 

hellish  designs  of  the  bold,  bad  men  who  sought  the  life  of  the  nation.  Tha  deed 
is  consummated,  but  the  Eepublic  still  lives. 

The  procession  commenced  to  move  from  the  Executive  Mansion  precisely  at 
2  o'clock  P.  M.  in  the  exact  order  laid  down  in  the  programme.  It  is  now  3:^ 
o'clock,  and  still  they  come.  Washington  has  never  witnessed  any  thing  like  what 
is  passing  here  to-day.  The  day  is  glorious — clear,  warm,  find  genial — and  it 
would  seem  that  all  our  people  must  be  abroad.  There  is  a  great  influx  of 
strangers  here  from  abroad,  and  all  the  immediate  country  round  about  has  con- 
tributed largely  to  swell  the  multitude.  From  early  morn,  up  to  the  present 
hour,  Pennsylvania  avenue,  from  the  capitol  to  the  White  House,  on  either  side, 
has  been  one  compact  throng  of  human  beings.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  a 
hundred  thousand  people  witnessed  the  imposing  demonstrations  of  the  day. 

To  describe  accurately  the  incidents  of  the  occasion  would  require  more  time 
tlian  we  now  have  at  command,  as  this  mxist  soon  go  forward,  or  it  will  fail  to 
reach  its  destination  in  season.  It  may  suffice  for  the  present  to  say  that  all 
passed  off  in  order,  and  nothing  occurred  to  mar  the  solemnities  of  the  occasion. 

We  may  remark  that  at  the  point  where  we  stood,  on  the  Avenue,  when  the  car 
passed  upon  which  rested  all  that  is  mortal  of  the  great  deceased,  there  was  a 
spontaneous  outburst  of  indignation,  not  loud,  but  deep,  against  tiie  deep  damna- 
tion of  his  taking  off;  and  this  was  not  all— tears,  copious  tears,  were  observed  on 
many  a  face.  The  people  feel  their  loss,  and  they  will  avenge  it ;  in  no  violent 
way,  but  through  the  channels  of  the  law  outraged  justice  shall  be  vindicated. 
This  day,  as  well  as  that  upon  which  the  good  man  fell,  will  long  be  remembered ; 
indeed,  it  can  never  be  forgotten. 

The  City  Prior  to  the  Paneral. 
The  day  is  beautiful  and  quite  warm.  The  Avenue  is  filled  with  persons  to 
witness  the  mournful  funeral  procession.  Civic  and  military  processions  are 
[Missing  to  the  appointed  place  of  rendezvous.  All  business  it)  entirely  suspended, 
and  the  citizens  have  turned  out  en  masse  to  pay  the  last  sad  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  late  President  Lincoln.  Every  window,  housetop,  and  available 
spot  is  filled  with  people,  though  it  will  be  two  hours  before  the  funeral  cortege 
will  pass. 

Eumor, 
It  is  rumored  on  the  streets  this  P.  M.  that  Judge  Campbkix  and  R.  M.  T.  How- 
TTHi  have  been  arrested  in  Richmond,  by  order  of  President  Johnson.     The  story 
hicks  confirmation. 

Another  Arrest 

John  T.  Ford,  proprietor  of  Ford's  Theatre,  was  arrested  in  Baltimore  yeete*- 
day  evening,  and  is  now  confined  in  the  Old  Capitol,  Prison. 


The  Burial  Place  of  President  Lincoln. 

Washington,  April  19. — Governor  Oglksbt  to-day  received  the  following 
^esdatch : 

Springfield,  Ili.,  April  18,  1865. — A  national  monument  fund  is  on  foot,  and  a 

plot  of  ground,  six  acres  in  extent  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  has  been  selected  an 

the  burial  place  of  our  late  lamented  President, 

Sharon  Tyndale,  Secretary  of  State. 
4 


\ 


86  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

The  following  "  Dirge"  upon  the  death  of  President  Lincoln  was  published  in 
the  Evening  Bulletin,  upon  the  very  day  of  the  announcement  of  his  death,  Sat. 
nrday  last,  and  by  next  morning  (Sabbath)  was  set  to  music  and  sung  in  very 
many  of  the  church  choirs  of  this  city  and  neighboring  towns.  It  has  since  been 
sung  in  Washington,  New  York,  Boston,  and  other  cities  upon  occasions  of  hia 
funeral  discourse's. — Publisher. 

DIRGE. 

[by    RICHARD    COE.] 

Toll !  toll !  toll ! 
On  every  hand, 
Ye  bells  throughoiit  the  land ; 
Washington's  great  compeer  now  lies, 
With  death-sealed  eyes. 
And  pallid  face  upturned  towards  the  skies  f 
Toll!  toll!  toll! 
On  every  hand. 

Ye  bells  throughout  the  land  ! 
Toll!  toll!  toll! 

Weep !  weep  !  weep  ! 
On  every  hand, 
Ye  patriots  in  the  land  ; 
Brave  Lincoln's  dead  !     Great  God  !  and  can  it  be  t 
Henceforth  there's  nothing  in  mortality 
That's  serious  !"     Help  us  to  look  to  thee  ! 
■    Weep  !  weep  !  weep  ! 
On  every  hand 
Ye  patriots  in  the  land, 
Weep  !  weep  !  weep  ! 

Pray  !  pray !  pray  ! 
On  every  hand. 
Ye  Christians  in  the  land ; 
■'Kg  more  his  honest  face  will  greet  the  sun — 
His  day  is  finished,  and  his  labor  done ; 
A  crown  of  glory  rests  his  brow  upon ! 
Pray  !  pray  !  pray  ! 
On  every  hand. 
Ye  Christians  in  the  land, 
Pray  !  pray  !  pray  ! 


<  •  •  •  ► 


Overwhelming  Evidence  against  the  Assassin. 

BOOTH'S  LETTER  TO  J.  S.  CLARK,  ESQ. 


Deeply  Interesting-  Farticnlars  of  the  Assaalt  on  Mr.  Seward— Fearful  Magp- 
nitude  of  the  Conspiracy— Seizure  of  the  Conspirator  G.  A.  Atzcroth  in  his 
bed— Booth's  ZHysterioas  Movements  previous  to  the  Assassination. 


Justice  on  the  Felon's  Track. 

Prompt  upon  the  heels  of  the  staggering  assassination,  the  most  rigid,  active 

and  exhaustive  examinations  and  investigations  were  opened  to  identify  theblood- 

stained  fellows  and  visit  them  with  the  full  measure  of  public  retribution.    It  was 

at  once  discovered  that  the  foul  murder  embraced  a  comprehensive  network  of 


J 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  87 

conspirators,  whose  original  purpose  was  to  take  the  life  of  aU  the  leading  memr 
bers  of  the  government,  both  civil  and  military,  and  thus  paralyze  the  nation  and 
throw  both  society  and  government  into  hopeless  confusion.  Hundreds  of  detec- 
tives were  at  once  despatched  in  all  directions.  Several  arrests  were  speedily  made 
and  are  still  being  made.  Amid  the  widespread  excitement  and  suspicions,  a 
number  of  innocent  parties  were  inevitably  arrested,  and  upon  examination  dis- 
charged. Other  innocent  persons  have  been  painfully  involved  by  the  alleged 
principal  conspirator.  Several  of  the  leading  assassins  have  been  identified  beyond 
a  doubt,  while  new  evidence  is  daily  coming  out  identifying  others  with  the  great 
crime.  The  government  is  still  pursuing  its  investigations,  taking  testimony,  and 
pushing  its  inquiries  in  all  possible  directions,  but  by  an  express  order  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  all  the  facts  elicited  are  kept  sub  rosa  until  the  whole  plot  is  fully 
unravelled.  Some,  however,  have  leaked  out,  which  we  are  at  liberty  to  give,  to- 
gether with  a  mass  of  interesting  incidents  and  circumstances  connected  with  the 
tragedy,  which  have  been  accumulating  with  fairly  oppressive  profusion  from  the 
hour  of  the  murder  to  the  present  moment. 

John  Wilkes  Booth. 

As  to  the  most  conspicuous  actor  in  the  startling  drama,  public  opinion  fas- 
tened at  once  with  terrible  tenacity  upon  John  Wilkes  Booth  as  the  murderer  of 
the  President,  and  the  evidence  convicting  him  of  the  monstrous  crime  has  since 
rolled  up  in  massive  proportions.  Laura  Keene,  the  actress,  who  was  performing 
on  the  night  of  the  tragedy,  in  the  play  entitled  the  American  Cousin,  identifies 
liim  positively.  Nor  is  this  lady  alone  in  her  identification.  Another  actor, 
Harry  Hawk,  whose  father  lives  in  Chicago,  and  who  was  also  acting  at  Ford's 
theatre  on  the  eventful  night,  wrote  to  his  father  soon  after  the  tragedy,  giving 
some  interesting  facts.  We  give  that  portion  of  the  letter  relating  to  the  great 
calamity,  as  follows. 

Letter  from  the  "Asa  Trenehard"  of  the  Tragedy. 

Washington,  Sunday/,  April  16. — This  is  the  first  opportimity  I  have  had  to 
write  to  you  since  the  assassination  of  our  dear  President,  on  Friday  night,  as  I 
have  been  in  custody  nearly  ever  since.  I  was  one  of  the  principal  witnesses  of 
that  sad  affair,  being  the  only  one  on  the  stage  at  the  time  of  the  fatal  shot. 

I  was  playing  "Asa  Trenehard"  in  the  American  Cousin.  The  ''  old  lady"  of 
the  theatre  had  just  gone  off  the  stage,  and  I  was  answering  her  exit  speech  when 
I  heard  the  shot  fired.  I  turned,  looked  up  at  the  Presjdent's  box,  heard  the  man 
exclaim  "Sic  semper  tyrannis,"  saw  him  jump  from  the  box,  seize  the  flag  on  the 
staff,  and  drop  to  the  stage ;  he  slipped  when  he  gained  the  stage,  but  he  got  upon 
his  feet  in  a  moment,  brandished  a  large  knife,  saying,  "  The  South  shall  be  free  !" 
turned  his  face  in  the  direction  I  stood,  and  I  recognized  him  as  John  Wilkes 
Booth.  He  ran  towards  me,  and  I  (seeing  the  knife,  I  thought  I  was  the  one  he 
was  after),  ran  off  the  stage  and  up  a  flight  of  stairs.  He  made  his  escape  out 
of  a  door  directly  in  the  rear  of  the  theatre,  mounted  a  horse  and  rode  off. 

The  above  all  occurred  in  the  space  of  a  quarter  of  a  minute,  and  at  the  time 
T  did  not  know  that  the  President  was  shot — although,  if  I  had  tried  to  stop  him 
he  would  have  stabbed  me. 

I  am  now  under  one  thousand  dollars  bail  to  appear  as  a  witness  when  Booth 
is  tried,  if  caught. 

All  the  above  I  have  sworn  to.    You  may  imagine  the  excitement  in  the 
theatre,  which  was  crowded,  with  cries  of  "  Hang  him  !"  '*  Who  was  he  ?''  etc. 
from  every  one  present. 


88  THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

In  about  fifteen  minutes  after  the  occurrence  the  President  was  carried  ont 
and  across  the  street.  I  was  requested  to  walk  down  to  the  police  head-quarter-s 
and  give  my  evidence.  They  then  put  me  under  one  thousand  dollars  bond,  to 
appear  at  ten  o'clock  next  mornmg.  I  then  walked  about  for  some  time  as  the 
city  was  wild  with  excitement,  and  then  I  went  to  bed.  At  half-past  three  I 
was  called  by  an  aid  of  the  President,  to  go  to  the  house  where  he  was  lying, 
Secretary  Stanton  and  other  high  officials  assembled  there.  I  did  so,  and  went 
to  bed  again.     On  Saturday  I  gave  bail. 

It  was  the  saddest  thing  I  ever  knew.  The  city  only  the  night  before  waj 
illuminated,  and  everybody  was  so  happy.  Now  it  is  all  sadness.  Everbody 
looks  gloomy  and  sad. 

On  that  night  the  play  was  going  off  so  well,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  enjoyed  it 
so  much.  She  was  laughing  at  my  speech  when  the  shot  was  fired.  In  fact,  it 
was  one  laugh  from  the  time  the  curtain  went  up  until  it  fell ;  and  to  think  of 
such  a  sorrowful  ending !  It  is  an  era  in  my  life  that  I  never  shall  forget. 
Inclosed  is  a  piece  of  the  fringe  of  the  flag  the  President  was  holding  when  shot. 

Startling   Developments. 

Further  developments  serve  to  confirm  that  the  plot  to  assassinate  the  Presi- 
dent and  Cabinet  was  planned  long  ago,  and  that  the  conspirators  were  only 
waiting  for  a  favorable  opportunity  to  carry  out  their  designs.  That  the 
"Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle"  were  the  originators  of  the  conspiracy  there  is 
no  doubt,  and  it  is  also  assumed  that  the  4th  of  March  was  fixed  for  the  com- 
mission of  the  deed.  The  assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  throws  light  upon  much 
which  had  seemed  strange  in  the  conduct  of  Booth  during  the  past  winter,  and 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  in  murdering  Mr.  Lincoln  he  was  complying 
with  an  obligation  of  the  order  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  which  obhgation 
had  fallen  on  him  by  lot. 

Booth  in  Boston. 

Boston,  A^rtl  15th.  John  Wilkes  Booth  was  in  this  city  during  the  latter  part 
of  last  week,  and  we  believe  as  late  as  last  Monday  of  this  week. 

He  has  frequently  visited  Boston,  having  friends  here,  and  we  did  not  hear  that 
his  visit  on  this  occasion  was  in  any  way  connected  with  business.  He  has  ap- 
peared upon  the  stage  only  a  few  times  this  season,  having  interested  himself  in 
oil  speculations,  and  by  that  means  becoming  quite  wealthy. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  season  he  gave  up  all  engagements  that  he  had  already 
made,  and  for  some  tune  devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  his  business  at 
Oil  Creek,  where  at  one  time,  at  least,  he  was  associated  with  an  old  friend  who 
formerly  resided  in  the  South. 

His  last  appearance  on  the  stage  in  this  city  was  at  the  Howard  Atheneum, 
about  a  year  since.  At  that  time  he  was  vehement  and  bitter  in  denunciations 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  administration,  and  so  violent  in  his  expressions  of  joy 
over  every  Union  defeat,  that  he  was  frequently  cautioned,  and  at  last  avoided 
by  his  brother  actors. 

"When  he  left  the  city  he  expressed  his  undying  hatred  for  the  North  and  the 
Union,  and  threw  out  some  vague  hints  for  vengeance,  which  were  not  regarded 
at  the  time  as  meaning  any  more  than  that  the  rebellion  should  succeed. 

Statement  of  an  Eye-witness. 
Mr.  James  P.  FerguBon,  who  was  present  at  Ford's  on  the  nigbt  of  the  assasi- 
aatiou,  makes  a  statement  to  the  foUowinar  purport : 


THE   ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  89 

He  went  to  the  theatre  with  a  lady  on  Friday  night,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
seeing  General  Grant,  who  was  announced  to  be  present.  Mr.  Ferguson  saw  the 
presidential  party  enter  the  box,  but  of  course  did  not  see  the  Lieutenant-General. 
lie,  however,  continued  to  watch  the  box,  thinking  the  General  might  intend  to 
elip  quietly  in,  in  order  to  avoid  the  demonstrations  that  would  attend  his  re- 
cognition. 

When  the  second  scene  of  the  third  act  of  the  play  was  reached,  Mr.  Ferguson 
saw  and  recognized  John  Wilkes  Booth  making  his  way  along  the  dress-circle 
to  the  President's  box.  Of  this  box  Mr.  Ferguson  had  an  excellent  view,  being 
seated  in  the  dress  circle  just  opposite  to  it,  next  to  the  private  boxes  on  the 
other  side  of  the  circle.  This  seat  he  had  purposely  chosen  to  afford  his  com- 
panion a  good  view  of  the  Lieutenant-General,  and,  for  the  reason  already  stated, 
was  narrowly  watching  the  entrance  to  it. 

Mr.  Ferguson  and  Booth  had  met  in  the  afternoon  and  conversed,  and  wer«k 
well  acquainted  with  each  other,  so  that  the  former  immediately  recognized  him. 
Booth  stopped  two  steps  from  the  door,  took  off  his  hat,  and  holding  it  in  his  left 
hand,  leaned  against  the  wall  behind  him.  In  this  attitude  he  remained  for  half  a 
minute,  then,  adds,  Mr.  Ferguson,  he  stepped  down  one  step,  put  his  hand  on  the 
door  of  the  little  corridor  leading  to  the  box,  bent  his  knee  against  it.  The  door 
opened,  and  Booth  entered,  and  was  for  the  time  hidden  from  Mr.  Ferguson's 
sight 

Mr.  Ferguson  watched  for  his  appearance  in  the  box,  desiring  to  see  who  in 
that  party  the  actor  could  be  on  such  intimate  terms  with,  as  to  feel  warranted 
in  taking  such  a  liberty.  Whether  Booth  shut  the  door  of  the  little  corridor  or 
left  it  open  behind  him,  Mr.  Ferguson  fears  to  state  positively ;  but  from  what  he 
observed  of  the  door,  and  for  reasons  hereafter  to  be  stated,  believes  he  did  shut 
it.  The  shot  was  the  next  thing  Mr.  Ferguson  remembers.  He  saw  the  smoke, 
then  perceived  Booth  standing  upright,  with  both  hands  raised,  but  at  that 
moment  saw  no  weapon  or  any  thing  else  in  either.  Booth  then  sprang  to  the 
front  of  the  box,  laid  his  left  hand  on  the  railing  in  front,  was  checked  an  instant, 
evidently  by  his  coat  or  pants  being  caught  in  something,  or  held  back  by  some- 
body.    (It  was  Major  Rathbun.) 

A  post  in  front  obstructed  the  view  of  Mr.  Fergurson,  but  Booth  soon  changed 
his  position,  and  was  again  clearly  seen  by  Mr.  F.  He  now  had  a  knife  in  his 
right  hand,  which  he  also  laid  upon  the  railing,  as  he  already  had  his  left,  and 
vaulted  out.  As  his  legs  passed  between  the  folds  of  the  flags  decorating  the 
box,  his  spur,  which  he  wore  on  the  right  heel,  caught  the  drapery,  and  brought 
it  down,  tearing  a  strip  with  it.  When  he  let  go  the  railing,  he  still  clutched  the 
shining  knife.  He  crouched  aa  he  fell,  falling  on  one  knee,  and  stretched  forth 
both  hands  to  help  himself  to  recover  an  erect  position,  which  he  did  with  the 
rapidity  and  easy  agility  of  an  athletic. 

Having  recovered  his  equilibrium.  Booth  strode  across  the  stage  to  the  first  en- 
trance, passing  behind  the  actor  on  the  stage  (Harry  Hawk.)  When  he  reached 
the  other  side  of  the  stage,  just  ere  he  became  invisible,  by  passing  into  the  en- 
trance, he  looked  up,  and  Mr.  Ferguson  said  he  heard  him  say,  "  I  have  done  it," 
and  then  he  lost  sight  of  him. 

Mr.  Ferguson  visited  the  theatre  on  the  day  following  the  murder,  and,  with 
Miss  Harris,  the  lady  who  was  in  the  box  with  the  President,  her  father.  Judge 
Olin,  of  the  Criminal  Court,  and  Judge  Carter,  examined  the  box. 

The  puzzling  hole  in  the  vmused  door  of  the  box  was  closely  scrutinized  by  the 
light  of  a  candle,  and  was  found  to  possess  indubitable  marks  of  having  been 


90  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

whittled  with  a  hnife.  The  ball  extracted  from  the  head  of  the  President  is  of 
much  larger  diameter  than  the  hole.  The  edges  of  the  hole  show  the  marks  of 
a  knife-blade  very  clearly. 

When  the  shot  had  been  fired,  Miss  Harris  rose  to  her  feet  to  call  for  water  for 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  distinctly  noticed  a  bar  of  wood  placed  across  the  door  of  the 
little  corridor,  one  end  resting  against  the  wall  into  which  it  was  partially  let  by 
a  cut,  or  rather  an  indentation,  scooped  in  the  wall.  The  other  end  was  braced 
against  the  opposite  side  of  the  door  frame.  This  bar,  as  the  door  opens  inward, 
would  effectually  delay,  if  not  wholly  prevent,  all  ingress  into  the  box  from  the 
dress  circle,  and  would  also  detain  the  egress  of  any  one  in  the  box. 

Booth  on  Immortal  Pame. 

It  is  reported  that  the  now  notorious  Booth  remarked  to  a  prominent  citizen 
of  Cleveland  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  that  "  the  man  who  killed  Abraham  Lincoln 
would  occupy  a  higher  niche  of  fame  than  George  Washington."  During  a  the- 
atrical engagement  of  his  at  Chicago,  in  1863,  he  remarked  one  day,  "  What  a 
glorious  opportunity  there  is  for  a  man  to  immortalize  himself  by  killing 
Lincoln."  "  What  good  would  that  do  ?"  he  was  asked.  He  then  quoted  these 
lines : 

"  The  ambitious  youth  who  fired  the  Ephesian  dome 
Outlives  in  fame  the  pious  fool  who  reared  it." 

"  Well,  who  was  that  ambitious  youth — what  was  his  name  ?"  was  then  asked 
"  That  I  don't  know,"  replied  Booth.     "Thenwhere's  the  fame  you  speak  of?" 
This,  our  informant  tells  us,  nonplussed  him.     From  this  it  would  seem  that  the 
assassin  has  had  the  commission  of  this  horrid  crime  in  his  mind  for  at  least  two 
or  three  years. 

Remarkable  Letter  of  the  Assassin. 

The  following  verbatim  copy  of  a  letter  in  writing,  which  is  in  the  hand-writing 
of  John  Wilkes  Booth,  the  murderer  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  has  been  furnished  to  the 
press  by  Hon.  William  Millward,  U.  S.  Marshal  of  the  Eastern  D'strict  of  Penn- 
syKania.  It  was  handed  over  to  that  oflScer  by  John  S.  Clarke,  wno  is  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Mr.  Booth.  The  history  connected  with  it  is  somewhat  peculiar.  In 
November,  1864,  the  paper  was  deposited  with  Mr.  Clarke  by  Booth,  in  a  sealed 
envelope,  "  for  safe  keeping,"  Mr.  Clarke  being  ignorant  of  its  contents.  In 
January  last  Booth  called  at  Mr.  Clarke's  house,  asked  .for  the  package  and  it 
was  given  up  to  him.  It  is  now  supposed  that  at  that  time  he  took  out  the  paper 
and  added  to  it  his  signature,  which  appears  to  be  in  a  differeat  ink  from  that 
used  in  the  body  of  the  letter,  and  also  from  the  language  employed  could  not 
have  been  put  to  it  originally.  Afterwards  he  returned  the  package  to  Mr. 
Clarke  again  for  safe  keeping,  sealed,  and  bearing  the  superscription  "  J.  Wilkes 
Booth." 

The  inclosure  was  preserved  by  the  family  without  suspicion  of  its  nature. 
After  the  afflicting  information  of  the  assassination  of  the  President,  which  came 
upon  the  family  of  Mr.  Clarke  with  crushing  force,  it  was  considered  proper  to 
open  the  envelope.  There  were  found  in  it  the  following  paper,  with  some  seven- 
thirty  United  States  bonds,  and  certificates  of  shares  in  oil  companies.  Mr. 
Clark  promptly  handed  over  the  paper  to  Marshal  Millward,  in  whose  custody  it 
n«w  remains.  From  a  perusal  of  this  paper  it  seems  to  have  been  prepared  by 
Booth  as  a  vindication  of  some  desperate  act  which  he  had  in  contemplation ;  and 
frora  the  language  used  it  is  probable  that  it  was  a  plot  to  abduct  the  President 


THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  91 

and  carry  him  off  to  Virginia.     If  this  was  meditated  it  failed,  and  from  making 

a  prisoner  of  the  President  up  to  his  assassination  was  an  easy  step  for  a  man  of 

perverted  principles.    The  italics  are  Booth's  own.    The  letter  is  as  foUo':"«  : 

, ,  18&*. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  You  may  use  this  as  you  think  best.  But  as  some  may  wish 
to  know  when,  who  and  why,  and  as  I  know  not  how  to  direct,  I  give  it  (in  the 
words  of  your  master). 

To  T^Tiom  it  May  Concern : 

Eight  or  wrong,  God  judge  me,  not  man.  For  be  my  motive  good  or  bad,  of 
one  thing  I  am  sure,  the  lasting  condemnation  of  the  North. 

I  love  peace  more  than  life.  Have  loved  the  Union  beyond  expression.  For 
four  years  have  I  waited,  hoped  and  prayed  for  the  dark  clouds  to  break,  and  for 
a  restoration  of  our  former  sunshine.  To  wait  longer  would  be  a  crime.  All 
hope  for  peace  is  dead.  My  prayers  have  proved  as  idle  as  my  hopes.  God's  will 
be  done.     I  go  to  see  and  share  the  bitter  end. 

I  have  ever  held  the  South  were  right.  The  very  nomination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  four  years  ago,  spoke  plainly,  war — war  upon  Southern  rights  and  insti- 
tutions. His  election  proved  it.  '•  Await  an  overt  act."  Yes,  till  you  are  bound 
and  plundered.  What  folly !  The  South  was  wise.  Who  thinks  of  argument  or 
jpatience  when  the  finger  of  his  enemy  presses  on  the  trigger  ?  In  a  foreign  war 
I,  too,  could  say,  "  country,  right  or  wrong."  But  in  a  struggle  such  as  ours, 
(where  the  brother  tries  to  pierce  the  brother's  heart),  for  God's  sake,  choose  the 
right.  When  a  country  like  this  spurns  /us^tce  from  her  side  she  forfeits  the  alle- 
giance of  every  honest  freeman,  and  should  leave  him,  untrammelled  by  any  fealty 
soever,  to  act  as  his  conscience  may  approve. 

People  of  the  North !  to  hate  tyranny,  to  love  liberty  and  justice,  to  strike  at 
wrong  and  oppression,  was  the  teaching  of  our  fathers.  The  study  of  our  early 
history  will  not  let  me  forget  it,  and  may  it  never. 

This  country  was  formed  for  the  white,  not  for  the  black  man.  And  looking 
upon  African  slavery  from  the  same  stand-point  held  by  the  noble  framers  of  our 
Constitution,  I,  for  one,  have  ever  considered  it  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  (for 
themselves  and  for  us)  that  God  ever  bestowed  upon  a  favored  nation.  Witness 
heretofore  our  wealth  and  power,  witness  their  elevation  and  enlightenment  above 
their  race  elsewhere.  I  have  lived  among  it  most  of  my  Ufe,  and  have  seen  less 
harsh  treatment  from  master  to  man  than  I  have  beheld  in  the  North  from  father 
to  son.  Yet,  heaven  knows,  no  one  would  be  willing  to  do  more  for  the  negro  race 
than  I,  could  I  but  see  a  way  to  still  better  their  condition. 

But  Lincoln's  policy  is  only  preparing  the  way  for  their  total  annihilation. 
The  South  are  not,  nor  have  been  fighting  for  the  continuance  of  slavery.  The 
first  battle  of  Bull  Run  did  away  with  that  idea.  The  causes  since  for  war  hare 
been  as  noble  and  greater  far  than  those  that  xcrged  our  fathers  on.  Even  should 
we  allow  they  were  wrong  at  the  beginning  of  this  contest,  cruelty  and  injustict 
have  made  the  wrong  become  the  right,  and  they  stand  now  (before  the  wonder 
and  admiration  of  the  world),  as  a  noble  band  of  patriotic  heroes.  Hereafter, 
reading  of  their  deeds,  Thermopylae  will  be  forgotten. 

When  I  aided  in  the  capture  and  execution  of  John  Brown,  (who  was  a  murderer 
on  our  western  border,  who  was  fairly  tried  and  convicted,  before  an  impartial 
judge  and  jury,  of  treason,  and  who,  by  the  way,  has  since  been  made  a  god),  1 
was  proud  of  my  little  share  in  the  transaction,  for  I  deemed  it  my  duty,  and  that 
I  was  helping  our  common  country  to  perform  an  act  of  justice.  But  what  was 
a  crime  in  poor  John  Brown  is  now  considered  (by  themselves)  as  the  greatest 
and  only  virtue  of  the  whole  Republican  party.  Strange  transmigration !  Vice 
a  to  become  a  virtue,  simply  because  more  indulge  in  it. 

I  thought  then,  as  now,  that  the  abolitionists  were  the  only  traitors  in  the  land, 
and  that  the  entire  party  deserved  the  same  fate  as  poor  old  Brown,  not  because 
they  wish  to  abolish  slavery,  but  on  account  of  the  means  they  have  ever  endeav- 
ored to  use  to  efi'ect  'that  abolition.  If  Brown  were  living,  I  doubt  whether  h« 
himself  wonld  set  slavery  against  the  Union.  Most,  or  many,  in  the  North,  do, 
and  openly  curse  the  Union,  if  the  South  are  to  return  and  retain  a  single  right 
guaranteed  to  them  by  every  tie  which  we  once  revered  as  sacred.  The  South 
can  make  no  choice.  It  is  either  eitennination  or  slavery  for  themselves  (worse 
thaa  death)  to  draw  from.    I  know  my  choice. 


& 


92  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   TKESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

I  have  also  studied  hard  to  discover  upon  wliat  grounds  the  right  of  a  Stat«  t-o 
secede  has  been  denied,  when  our  very  name,  United  States,  and  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  both  provide  for  secession.     But  this  is  no  time  for  words  ;  I 
write  in  haste.     I  know  how  foolish  I  shall  be  deemed  for  undertaking  suchi  a 
step  as  this,  where,  on  one  side,  I  have  many  friends  and  every  thing  to  make  rae 
happy,  where  my  profession  alone  has  gained  me  an  income  of  more  than  twenty 
thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  where  m}"^  great  personal  ambition  in  my  profession 
has  such  a  great  field  for  labor.     On  the  other  hand,  the  south  have  never 
bestowed  upon  me  one  kind  word ;  a  place  now  where  I  have  no  friends,  except 
beneath  the  sod ;  a  place  where  I  must  either  become  a  private  soldier  or  a 
beggar.     To  give  up  all  of  the  former  for  the  latter,  besides  my  mother  and 
sisters,  whom  I  love  so  dearly  (although  they  so  widely  differ  with  me  in  opinion) 
seems  insane ;  but  Grod  is  my  judge.     I  love  justice  more  than  I  do  a  country 
that  disowns  it ;  more  than  fame  and  wealth  ;  more  (heaven  pardon  me  if  wrong) 
more  than  a  happy  home.   I  have  never  been  upon  a  battle  field,  but  0,  my  country- 
men, could  you  all  but  see  the  reality  or  effects  of  this  horrid  war,  as  I  have 
seen  them  in  every  State  (save  Virginia),  I  know  you  would  think  like  me,  and 
would  pray  the  Almighty  to  create  in  the  northern  mind  a  sense  of  right  and 
justice  (even  should  it  possess  no  seasoning  of  mercy),  and  that  he  would  dry  up 
this  sea  of  blood  between  us,  which  is  daily  growing  wider.     Alas  !  poor  country, 
is  she  to  meet  her  threatened  doom?     Four  years  ago  1  would  have  given  a 
thousand  lives  to  see  her  remain  (as  I  had  always  known  her)  powerful  and 
unbroken.     And  even  now  I  would  hold  my  life  as  nought,  to  see  her  what  she 
was.     0,  my  friends  !  if  the  fearful  scenes  of  the  past  four  years  had  neven  been 
enacted,  or  if  what  has  been  had  been  but  a  frightful  dream  from  which  we  could 
now  awake,  with  what  overflowing  hearts  could  we  bless  our  God  and  pray  for 
his  continued  favor.     Howl  have  loved  the  old  flag  can  never  now  be  known. 
A  few  years  since  and  the  world  could  boast  of  none  so  pure  and  spotless.     Bm 
I  have  of  late  been  seeing  and  hearing  of  the  bloody  deeds  of  which  she  has  been 
made  the  emblem,  and  would  shudder  to  think  how  changed  she  has  grown. 
0,  how  I  have  longed  to  see  her  break  from  the  mist  of  blood  and  death  that 
circles  round  her  folds,  spoiling  her  beauty  and  tarnishing  her  honor.     But  no ; 
day  by  day  she  has  been  dragged  deep-er  and  deeper  into  cruelty  and  oppression, 
till  now  (in  my  eyes)  her  once  bright  red  stripes  look  like  bloody  gashes  on 
the  face  of  heaven.     I  look  now  upon  my  early  admiration  of  her  glories  as  a 
dream.     My  love  (as  things  stand  to-day)  is  for  the  South  alone.     Nor  do  I  deern 
it  a  dishonor  in  attempting  to  make  for  her  a  prisoner  of  this  man,  to  whom  she 
owes  so  much  misery.     If  success  attends  me,  I  go  penniless  to  her  side.     They 
say  she  has  found  that  "  last  ditch"  which  the  North  have  so  long  derided,  and 
been  endeavoring  to  force  her  in,  forgetting  they  are  our  brothers,  and  it  i."? 
impolitiQ  to  goad  an  enemy  to  madness.     Should  I  reach  her  in  safety  and  find 
it  true,  1  will  proudly  beg  permission  to  triumph  or  die  in  that  same  "  ditch"  by 
her  side. 

A  Covfederate,  doing  duty  on  his  own  responsibility. 

J.  WiLKSs  Booth. 

The  Murderer  Seen. 

Sergeant  J.  M.  Dye,  Battery  C,  Pennsylvania  Independent  Artillery,  stationeQ 
at  Camp  Barry,  near  Washington,  in  a  private  letter  of  the  15th  instant,  to  his 
father,  J.  S.  Dye,  No.  100  Broadway,  New  York,  gives  the  following  ^"account  of 
tiie  conduct  of  Booth,  immediately  before  the  assassination. 

Washington,  D.  C,  April  15,  1865. 

Dear  Fatuer  : — With  sorrow  I  pen  these  lines.  The  death  of  President  Lin- 
coln has  deeply  affected  me.  And  why  shouldn't  it,  tvhen  I  might  have  saved  his 
precious  life  ? 

I  was  standing  in  front  of  the  theatre  when  the  two  assassins  were  conversing. 
I  heard  part  of  their  conversation.  It  was  not  sufficiently  plain  for  an  outsider 
to  understand  the  true  meaning  of  it:  yet  it  apprised  Sergeant  Cooper  and  my- 
self that  they  were  anxious  that  the  President  should  come  out  to  his  carriage, 
which  was  standing  just  behind  us.  The  second  act  would  soon  end,  and  they 
expected  he  would  come  out  then.  I  stood  awhile  between  them  and  the  car- 
riage, with  my  revolver  ready,  for  I  began  to  suspect  them.    The  act  ended,  but 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  93 

the  President  did  not  appear ;  so  Booth  •vyent  into  a  restaurant  and  took  a  drink, 
tlien  came  out  and  went  into  an  alley  where  his  horse  was  then  standing ;  though 
1  did  not  know  that  any  horse  was  there.  He  came  back  and  whispered  to  the 
other  rascal,  then  stepped  into  the  theatre.  There  were  at  this  time  two  police 
officers  standing  by  them.  I  was  invited  by  my  friend  C.  to  have  some  oysters, 
and  we  went  into  a  saloon  around  the  corner,  and  had  just  got  seated  when  a  man 
(-4ime  running  in  and  said  the  President  was  shot !  This  so  startled  us  that  we 
could  hardly  realize  it,  bui  we  stepped  out  and  were  convinced. 

Yours,  J.  M.  Dye. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  mass  of  evidence,  convicting  Booth  beyond  air  pos- 
.«;ibility  of  doubt  of  the  monstrous  crime  associated  with  his  name,  had  we  space, 
we  could  support  it  with  an  abnndftnce  more  of  equal  strength.  The  assassin  will 
l>e  remembered  to  have  dropped  his  hat,  pistol,  and  spur  in  his  passage  from  the 
bloody  box  to  the  stage  and  across  it  behind  the  scenes.  The  hat  and  pistol  have 
botli  been  identified  as  belonging  to  Booth,  also  the  vagrant  spur.  This  last 
article  was  identified  by  the  livery  stable  man,  from  whom  he  obtained  it  with  the 
horse  on  the  night  of  the  murder.  Tlie  circumstance,  too,  about  leaving  the 
stable  with  the  horse  just  before  the  murder,  points  to  him  with  irresistible  sign> 
ficance. 

The  Assassin's  Weapons. 

The  murderer's  pistol  is  a  Derringer,  the  barrel  about  three  inches  long.  In 
the  stock  of  the  pistol  were  three  caps.  The  pistol  is  an  old-fashioned  one,  silver 
mounted,  and  of  French  manufacture.  A  large  knife  was  found  on  F.  street  be- 
tween Eighth  and  Ninth.  The  blade  of  the  knife  is  about  seven  inches  long,  and 
it  is  a  very  dangerous  looking  weapon.  It  is  thought  this  is  the  knife  which  he 
held  in  his  hand  when  he  jumped  from  the  box,  and  with  which  he  intended  to 
have  murdered  General  G  rant. 

Booth's  Hoom. 

This  fiend  is  said  to  have  a  room  at  the  National  Hotel,  Washington,  at  tlie 
time  of  his  diabolical  crime,  known  as  the  room  numbered  228.  With  the  excep- 
tion that  letters  and  several  other  articles  necessary  to  the  conviction  of  the 
assassin  have  been  taken  from  the  room,  it  remains  imdisturbed.  The  room  is  on 
the  fourth  story  of  the  hotel,  and  has  a  bare  and  desolate  look.  On  the  bureau, 
in  a  brown  paper,  lies  half  a  pound  of  Killikinick  tobacco,  a  clothes  brush,  a 
broken  comb,  and  a  pair  of  embroidered  slippers.  Scattered  among  the  drawers 
were  one  shirt,  two  pair  of  drawers,  several  pairs  of  stockings,  a  half  bottle  of  hair 
oil,  and  an  old  programme  of  the  Oxford  Concert  Room.  On  the  table  lay  several 
sheets  of  note  paper,  with  a  number  of  the  hotel  envelopes.  A  pair  of  black 
eassimere  pantaloons,  marked  J.  Wilkes  Booth  on  the  fob  pocket,  was  the  only 
article  of  clothing  remaining.  His  trunk,  which  was  locked,  was  marked  with  his 
name,  and  the  word  "  theatre"  following  the  erasure  of  the  name  between  the  two. 
A  large  black  leather  valise  sat  on  the  floor  near  the  trunk,  and  near  it  a  pair  of 
boots  unpolished.  The  general  aspect  of  things  in  the  apartment  was  one  of 
hasty  exit-    The  articles  mentioned  are  the  only  ones  in  the  room. 

Attempted  Assassination  of  Secretary  Seward. 

The  murderer  directly  instrumental  in  seeking  the  death  of  Mr.  Seward,  by 
plunging  a  knife  at  his  throat,  is  a  little  more  involved,  as  to  personal  identity, 
than  the  assassin  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  he  unquestionably  was  a  member  of  the 
same  fiendish  conspiracy.  Several  arrests  have  been  made  of  accomplices,  while 
the  principal  villain  himself  is  believed  to  be  identified  beyond  scarcely  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt 


94  THE  ASSASSINATION  OF   TRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

Iteanwhl.e  we  subjoin  a  highly  interesting  record  of  Mr.  George  F.  Eobinson's 
evidence,  the  nurse  in  attendance  upon  Secretary  Seward  on  the  night  of  the 
14th  instant,  and  through  wiiose  brave  and  determined  endeavors  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  murderous  designs  of  the  fiend  were  frustrated.  His  statement  of  the 
attempt  to  murder  the  Secretary  cannot  fail  to  be  read  with  interest. 

Mr.  Robinson  is  a  soldier,  belonging  to  Company  E,  of  the  8tli  Maine  Yolvmteers. 
On  the  11th  of  August  he  came  to  Douglas  Hospital  badly  wounded.  After  he 
aad  partially  recovered,  he  obtained  a  furlough  to  return  home,  and  subsequently 
another  furlough,  having  been  almost  continually  since  the  11th  of  August  unfit 
for  military  service.  He  returned  to  the  hospital  after  his  second  furlough,  on 
the  4th  of  last  February.  On  the  12th  of  April  he  was  detailed  to  act  as  nurse 
for  Secretary  Seward,  and  the  arrangement  was  that  he  was  to  remain  with  him 
from  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  until  after  breakfast  the  next  morning.  He  had 
entirely  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his  wound,  also  from  a  spell  of  sickness  after- 
terwards,  but  had  not  quite  regained  his  strength- 

What  Mr.  Robinson  says. 

Mr.  Robinson  states  that  on  the  morning  of  the  13th  instant,  while  seated  at 
breakfast  in  the  breakfast-room  of  the  Secretary's  residence,  which  room  fronts  on 
the  street,  a  person  bearing  a  most  remarkable  resemblance  to,  if  he  was  not  the 
same  man  who  subsequently  committed  the  horrible  attempted  assassination  of 
the  Secretary,  stopped  at  the  window,  and  inquired  as  to  the  condition  of  the 
Secretary's  health.  Mr.  Robinson  supposed  him  to  be  some  friend  of  the  family, 
and  opened  the  window  and  answered  his  question.  The  next  morning,  on  the 
14th,  on  the  night  of  which  the  assassination  was  attempted,  the  same  person 
again  appeared  and  asked  a  similar  question.  No  suspicion  was  excited  in  the 
mind  of  Mr.  Robinson,  however,  and  for  the  reason  as  above  stated,  that  he  con- 
sidered him  a  personal  friend  of  the  family. 

To  the  best  of  the  recollection  of  Mr.  Robinson,  the  man  entered  the  room  in 
which  Mr.  Seward  lay  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening.  His  recollection  of  the 
time  is  very  distinct,  as  only  a  short  time  previous  he  had  looked  at  the  thermometer 
to  see  that  the  proper  temperature  of  the  room  was  preserved,  and  at  the  same 
moment  observed  the  time  by  a  watch.  Mr.  Seward  was  bolstered  up,  on  a  long 
French  bedstead,  in  a  reclining  posture,  and  was  quietly  sleeping.  The  lights 
were  turned  dimly  down,  and  the  arrangements  had  been  perfected  for  the  night 
Miss  Fanny  Seward  was  also  in  the  room  at  the  time.  Presently  he  heard  a 
man's  footsteps  ascending  the  stairs  with  heavy  and  noisy  tread,  and  Miss  Seward 
and  he  were  both  surprised  at  this.  Then  there  was  a  pause.  It  appears  that 
the  man  was  met  at  the  landing  by  Mr.  Frederick  Seward,  and  with  whom  he  had 
some  conversation — probably  referring  to  his  alleged  mission  from  the  attending 
physician — for,  a  short  time  afterwards,  Mr.  Seward  entered,  and  noticing  that  his 
father  slept,  said :  "  Father  is  asleep  now  ;  I  guess  we  will  not  disturb  him."  Miss 
Seward  followed  her  brother  to  the  door,  looked  out,  and  returned  ;  and  she  did 
this  the  second  time,  then  returned  and  sat  dcftTi  on  the  bedside.  As  soon  as  she 
was  seated  the  second  time,  a  slight  noise  was  heard  on  tlie  staircase,  as  though  a 
juan  had  struck  another  with  a  walking-cane.  Mr.  Robinson  opened  the  door 
slightly  to  see  what  was  the  cause  of  the  disturbance. 

The  moment  Mr.  Robinson  opened  the  door,  he  saw  a  man  who  appeared  to  be 
covered  with  blood,  whom  he  supposed  to  be  Major  Seward,  and  immediately  in 
front  of  him  the  assassin.  The  villain  was  about  six  feet  in  height,  of  medium- 
sized,  round   face,  of  extremely  light  complexion,  with  light   sandy  hair,  and 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 


95 


whiskers  and  moustache,  both  light  in  color  and  growth,  and  was  broad-shouldered. 
He  wore  a  slouched  hat,  which  he  left  behind,  a  light-colored  overcoat,  buttoned 
closely  to  the  throat  with  what  seemed  to  be  pearl  buttons.  His  hands  were  soft 
and  delicate-looking,  but  he  displayed  wonderful  muscular  power.  As  Mr.  Robin- 
son opened  the  door  the  assassin  struck  at  his  breast.  In  his  hand  he  had  a  long 
knife,  the  blade  of  which  appeared  to  be  about  twelve  inches  in  length  and  one 
inch  in  width.  Robinson  determined  to  oppose  his  progress,  and  raised  his  arm 
to  parry  the  Kow.  The  consequence  was  that  a  wound  was  inflicted  in  the  centre 
of  Mr.  Robinson's  forehead  close  to  the  hair,  which  he  wears  turned  back.  The 
knife  glanced,  and  the  clenched  hand  in  which  the  man  held  the  dagger  came 
down  upon  Mr.  Robinson's  face,  and  felled  him  to  the  floor.  Miss  Seward  at  this 
juncture,  escaped  from  the  room,  and  ran  to  the  front  window,  screaming 
"murder." 

The  assassin  leaped  on  to  the  bed  where  Mr.  Seward  lay,  still  apparently  in  a 
helpless  condition,  and  gave  a  tremendous  blow  at  his  face.  He  missed  his  mark, 
however,  and,  in  his  effort,  almost  fell  across  Mr.  Seward's  body. 

By  this  time  Robinson  had  recovered,  jumped  on  to  the  bed,  and  caught  hold 
of  the  assassin's  arms.  While  he  was  thus  attempting  to  hold  the  assassin,  the 
latter  struck  Mr.  Seward  on  the  left  side  of  the  face,  and  then  on  the  right  side. 

The  assassin  then  raised  up,  and  he  and  Robinson  came  to  the  floor  together. 
They  both  got  on  to  their  feet,  Robinson  still  keeping  a  firm  hold  upon  him.  The 
assassin  reached  his  left  arm  over  Robinson's  shoulder,  and  endeavored  to  force 
him  to  the  floor.  Finding  he  could  not  handle  Robinson  in  that  position,  he 
drooped  his  pistol  which  had  been  forced  against  Mr.  Robinson's  face  in  the  hand 
which  was  around  his  neck,  caught  hold  of  Robinson's  right  arm  with  his  left 
hand,  and  struck  behind  Robinson  with  his  knife. 

They  still  continued  to  struggle  for  a  few  moments,  Robinson  forcing  him 
toward  the  door,  which  was  opened  with  the  intention  of  throwing  him  over  the 
balusters.  When  they  had  nearly  reached  the  door.  Major  Augustus  H.  Seward 
entered  the  room,  Robinson  calling  upon  him  to  take  the  knife  out  of  the  assas 
sin's  hand.  Major  Seward  immediately  clutched  the  assassin.  The  latter  struck 
Robinson  in  the  stomach,  knocking  him  down,  broke  away  from  Major  Seward; 
and  rushed  down  the  stairs. 

During  the  scuffle  between  Robinson  and  the  assassin,  when,  Mr.  Robinson  can- 
not say,  he  (the  latter)  received  a  wound  quite  serious,  some  two  inches  in  breadth, 
on  the  upper  part  of  the  right  shoulder  blade,  another,  a  slight  one,  on  the  If  ft 
shoulder.  While  struggling  with  the  man  near  the  bedside,  he  had  seized  tlie 
wrist  of  his  right  hand,  in  which  was  the  dagger,  and  did  not  release  his  hold 
until  knocked  down  by  the  assassin  near  the  door,  and  after  Major  Seward  had 
come  to  his  assistance. 

He  returned  to  the  room  after  he  found  that  the  assassin  had  escaped,  and 
found  that  the  Secretary  had  got  off  the  bed  on  to  the  floor,  dragging  with  him 
the  bed  clothes,  and  was  lying  in  a  pool  of  blood.  Upon  going  to  the  Secretary 
he  found  no  pulse  in  his  wrist,  and  stated  to  Miss  Seward  who  had  re-entered  the 
room,  and  asked  if  her  father  was  dead,  that  he  "  believed  he  was,"  b-ut  upon  a 
second  examination,  Robinson  ascertained  that  his  heart  was  still  beating. 

The  Secretary  then  said,  "  I  am  not  dead.  Send  for  the  police  and  a  surgeon, 
and  close  the  house."  He  then  placed  the  Secretary  upon  the  bed,  telling  him 
that  he  "  must  not  talk."     Mr.  Seward  did  not  speak  after  that. 

Mr.  Hansell  subsequently  told  Mr.  Robinson  that,  having  been  alarmed  by  the 


96  THE    ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

noise,  he  had  started  for  the  Secretary's  room,  and  was  met  on  the  staiiway  by 
the  assassin,  and  was  wounded  and  thrust  to  one  side. 

Mr.  Robinson  remained  with  Mr.  Seward  until  next  morning  at  eleven  o'clock, 
when  he  was  removed  to  Douglas  Hospital.  Every  attention  is  being  paid  to  this 
brave  man  by  tlie  surgeons  of  this  institution,  and  his  condition  is  very  favorable. 

A  Coat  Found. 

Soon  after  the  assassination,  a  gray  coat,  stained  with  blood,  and  which  had 
evidently  been  worn  as  an  overcoat,  was  foimd  near  Fort  Bunker  Hill,  just  back 
of  Glenwood  Cemetery,  In  the  pocket  was  a  false  moustache,  a  pair  of  riding 
gloves,  and  a  slip  of  paper,  upon  which  was  written  "Mary.E.  Gardiner,  419." 
This  is  supposed  to  have  been  worn  by  the  man  who  attacked  Secretary  Seward, 
although  the  weight  of  the  evidence  indicates  that  all  the  conspirators  took  the 
same  route,  that  of  the  Navy  Yard  bridge. 

The  Surratt  Family. 

Suspicion  having  been  directed  towards  a  house  occupied  by  members  of  the 
Surratf  family,  on  H  street,  near  Sixth,  Major  Smith,  of  General  Augur's  staff, 
accompanied  by  a  captain  and  a  gentleman  connected  with  the  War  Department 
named  Morgan,  on  Monday  night  of  last  week  visited'  the  premises,  and  placing 
the  lady  inmates  under  arrest,  proceeded  to  the  examination  of  the  house  and 
papers  found  in  it. 

While  doing  so  a  rap  was  heard  at  the  door,  about  3  o'clock  on  Tuesday 
morning,  which  was  opened  by  Mr.  Morgan,  revealing  a  medium-sized  man,  and 
apparently  in  coarse  clothes,  covered  with  mud,  and  having  a  pickaxe  on  his 
shoulder,  black  cloth  pantaloons  and  fine  boots. 

Upon  discovering  the  oflBcers  he  manifested  considerable  surprise,  and  remarked 
that  he  had  got  in  the  wrong  house.  In  reply  to  the  questions  of  Major  Smith, 
he  gave  contradictory  answers,  some  of  which  were  quite  absurd. 

The  man  claimed  to  earn  a  Uving  hy  the  use  of  his  pick,  but  on  removing  the 
mud  from  his  person  he  turned  out  to  be  of  much  more  genteel  appearance  than 
his  disguise  indicated.  He  stood  forth  dressed  in  a  gray  coat  and  vest,  black 
cloth  pantaloons  and  fine  boots ;  and  the  delicate  appearance  of  his  hands  and 
his  inconsistent  statements,  convinced  the  officers  that  he  had  some  connection 
with  the  attempt  to  assassinate  Mr.  Seward,  and  he  was  at  once  taken  to  General 
Augur's  head-quarters. 

Upon  reaching  head-quarters  he  was  placed  in  the  midst  of  a  group  of  persons, 
while  an  officer  was  despatched  to  the  residence  of  Secretary  Seward  for  the 
colored  servant  who  was  at  the  door  at  the  time  the  assassin  applied  for 
admission.  The  servant  had  no  knowledge  of  the  arrest  of  the  prisoner  as  the 
object  in  sending  for  him. 

Character  of  Surratt. 

This  individual  at  first  supposed  to  have  been  the  ruffian  who  attempted  the 
life  of  Secretary  Seward,  is  described  as  having  been  for  many  years  a  desperado 
of  the  worst  character.  Not  long  since  a  suit  was  brought  against  him  by  a 
young  lady  residing  across  Eastern  Branch,  for  seduction,  and  so  desperate  was 
las  character  that  for  some  time  the  officers  were  afraid  to  serve  the  writ ;  but 
one  of  them  by  laying  in  ambush  succeeded  in  taking  him. 

Surratt,  it  is  now  thought,  was  not  a  direct  actor  in  the  assassination,  but  seema 
to  have  been  in  some  way  accessory. 


THE   ASSASSIiS'ATIOjr   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  97 

Bewards  for  the  Capture  of  the  Assassins. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  over  his  own  official  signature,  has  offered  a  reward  of 
$50,000  for  the  arrest  of  the  murderer  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  §10,000  had  been  befovo 
offered  by  General  Augur  for  the  arrest  of  the  same  villain,  making  $G0,000  by 
the  government  for  this  capture  alone.  Besides,  the  corporation  of  Washington 
has  offered  $20,000  for  the  same  capture,  the  city  of  Baltimore  $10,000  more,  tho 
city  of  Philadelphia  $10,000  more,  and  Governor  Curtin  has  offered  an  additional 
$10,000,  if  the  assassin  is  caught  within  the  limits  of  Pennsylvania.  Here  is  a 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  capture  of  this  single  wretch.  In  ad- 
dition, the  Secretary  of  War  has  offered  a  reward  of  $25,000  each  for  the  arrest 
of  Atzeroth  and  Harold,  suspected  accomphces  in  the  Booth  conspiracy.  The 
Secretary  further  promises  liberal  rewards  for  all  valuable  information  tending  to 
ferret  out  the  villains,  and  threatens  with  summary  and  condign  punishment  all 
who  are  found  secreting  and  in  any  way  aiding  or  abetting  the  escape  of  the 
scoundrels. 

Arrest  of  an  Accomplice. 

J.  D.  Eeamer,  a  prominent  merchant  of  Hagerstown,  Md.,  was  arrested  in  that 
place  on  Tuesday  of  last  week,  and  lodged  in  tlie  Old  Capitol,  charged  as  con- 
spirator in  the  murder  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Eeamer,  in  a  private  conversation  some 
time  since,  had  foretold  the  exact  day  of  tlie  President's  death,  which  has  since 
proved  true  to  the  letter. 

Capture  of  the  Murderous  Conspirator  G.  A.  Atzeroth. 

G.  Andrews  Atzeroth,  a  prominent  actor  in  the  great  assassination,  waa 
arrested  on  the  19th  instant,  at  the  house  of  his  cousin,  near  Germantown,  Md. 
His  arrest  was  made  by  troops  under  General  E.  B.  Tyler,  stationed  at  Monocacy 
Junction. 

On  the  evening  of  the  18th  instant,  a  party  of  scouts  of  the  First  Delaware 
Cavalry,  Captain  Townsend,  returned  to  camp  from  a  scout,  and  reported  that  a 
suspicious  character  had  been  seen  in  the  neighborhood  of  Germantown,  a  small 
village  about  twenty  miles  toward  Washington  from  here,  and  from  what  they 
could  learn  he  answered  the  description  of  one  of  the  suspicious  characters  con- 
cerned m  the  assassination  of  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State. 

Captain  Townsend,  commanding  the  Independant  Scouts,  immediately  set  to 
work,  and  Sergeant  Zachariah  AV.  Gemmill,  of  Company  D  (Captain  Townsend's), 
First  Delaware  Cavalry,  and  six  men,  were  ordered  to  proceed  to  the  house  where 
it  was  understood  Atzeroth  was  staying,  and  arrest  him  and  such  other  men  a? 
might  be  found  on  the  premises.  The  scouts  under  command  of  Sergeant  Gera- 
mell  left  camp  about  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  19th,  and  marched  to 
Germantown.  Upon  arriving  at  the  house  of  Eeichter,  the  cousin  of  the  accused, 
about  half-past  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  sergeant  disposed  of  his  men 
about  the  premises  to  prevent  all  chances  of  escape,  and  in  company  with  some 
of  his  men,  knocked  at  the  door  for  admittance.  After  some  hesitation  on  the 
inmates,  the  door  was  cautiously  opened,  and  the  sergeant  pushed  his  waT  into 
the  room,  where  he  found  Eeichter's  family  in  bed  upon  the  floor,  and  the  room 
presenting  a  very  confused  appearance.  He  stated  his  business  to  Eeichter,  and 
asked  him  and  his  wife  if  there  was  such  a  man  as  Atzeroth  in  the  house.  At 
first  they  denied  that  there  was,  but  upon  the  sergeant  informing  them  that  he 
-viis  going  to  search  the  house,  they  informed  Iftm  that  a  cousm  from  the  lower 
part  of  Maryland  was  up-staii-s  in  bed. 


98  THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   TKESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

Sergeant  Gemmill  immediately  ascended  to  one  of  the  rooms  above,  where  he 
found  Atzeroth  in  bed  with  two  young  men,  all  quietly  sleeping.  They  were 
immediately  aroused,  their  clothing  thrown  on,  and  taken  down-stairs,  where  the 
Sergeant  made  sure  of  his  man,  and  made  preparation  for  leaving  with  his  prize. 
Before  starting,  he  entered  into  conversation  with  Reichter  and  his  wife  in 
reference  to  Atzeroth,  but  their  stories  were  too  conflicting,  and  such  a  mass  of 
falsehoods,  that  he  resolved  to  wait  until  daylight,  and  make  search  for  such 
other  evidence  as  would  throw  light  upon  the  matter. 

Atzeroth's  Antecedents. 

Atzeroth  is  a  German  by  birth,  but  having  come  to  this  country  when  quite  a 
child,  he  speaks  English  with  as  much  fluency  as  a  native.  He  is  about  five  feet 
seven  or  eight  inches  high,  with  a  well-knit  and  compact  frame,  an  (•  about  twenty- 
nine  years  of  age.  His  complexion  is  dark  and  swarthy,  with  black  crisp  hair 
and  moustache  ;  eyes  dark  gray,  deep  set  and  piercing.  His  forehead  is  low,  and 
the  general  contour  of  his  features  stamp  him  as  a  man  of  low  character, 
who  would  stoop  to  any  action,  no  matter  how  vile,  for  money.  During  his 
examination  by  Lieut.  Runkle,  he  manifested  considerable  of  a  "  devil-may-care" 
sort  of  a  spirit,  and  seemed  to  look  upon  himself  as  competent  to  deal  with  all 
ordinary  circumstances. 

Atzeroth  is  reported  to  have  said  to  one  of  his  friends  some  weeks  since,  that 
he  "  was  poor  now,  but  in  a  few  weeks  he  would  have  plenty  of  gold." 

An  Infamous  Admission. 

He  found,  by  questioning  several  parties  whom  Atzeroth  had  visited,  that  the 
accused  had  come  from  Washington  a  day  or  two  before,  and  at  the  house  of  one 
of  the  gentlemen,  while  eating  dinner,  had,  upon  the  subject  of  the  assassination 
being  broached,  abruptly  stopped  eating,  and  made  use  of  the  following  language  : 
"  If  all  of  them  had  done  their  duty.  Grant  would  have  been  served  the  same 
way !"  After  making  diligent  search  for  additional  evidence  in  the  neighborhood, 
the  Sergeant  hooked  up  Reichter's  buggy,  and  bringing  both  Reichter  and 
Atzeroth  with  him,  returned  to  camp  and  reported  to  Captain  Townsend.  After 
hearing  what  the  Sergeant  had  to  say,  the  Captain  directed  that  the  prisoners 
should  be  taken  to  the  head-quarters  of  Major  Arteman,  for  examination. 

The  prisoners  were  examined  separately,  and  their  answers  throughout  were  a 
mass  of  absurd  contradictions.  Reichter's  house  is  situated  some  twelve  miles 
from  Washington,  in  a  very  secluded  and  imfrequented  spot,  surrounded  on  all 
sides  by  immense  groves  of  pines,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  neighborhood  which  has 
ever  been  known  to  be  the  hiding-place  of  guerillas  and  others  who  wished 
to  commit  depredations  upon  the  surroimding  country.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
country  are,  as  a  class,  generally  known  to  be  disloyal,  and  since  the  arrest 
of  Atzeroth,  have  been  very  reticent,  almost  refusing  to  answer  any  question.s 
that  may  be  put  to  them  in  reference  to  the  matter  of  his  conduct  while  with 
them. 

After  the  examination  the  prisoners  were  manacled,  and  with  a  giaard  under 
Sergeant  Gemmill,  were  sent  to  the  railroad  station  to  be  forwarded  to  the  head- 
quarters  of  Gen.  E.  B.  Tyler.  While  here,  some  five  or  six  detective  officers  who 
had  been  searching  for  him,  came  up  and  fully  identified  the  accused  to  be  the 
party  they  were  in  search  of. 


THE  ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  101 


ATTEMPTED  ASSASSINATION  OE  MR.  SEWARD. 


ARREST  OF  THE  VILLAIN  WHO  DID  THE  BLOODY  WORK. 


t:e3:e  i^Ecoa-3sriTioisr_ 


CAPTURE  MADE  AT   THE  HOUSE  OF  SURRATT. 


WONDERFUL  DISGUISES  OF  THE  CULPRIT. 


His  Behavior  after  Arrest. 

Washington,  April  18. — The  demoniacal  wretch  who  attempted  the  life  of  Mr. 
Seward  and  his  son  Frederick,  was  captured  this  morning  at  3  o'clock,  by  detec- 
tives who  were  watching  a  house  occupied  by  Surratt. 

He  was  disguised  as  a  laborer.  His  clothes  were  covered  with  mud,  and  he 
carried  a  pickaxe  on  his  shoulder,  and  was  without  a  hat. 

When  he  was  arrested,  and  upon  washing  the  mud  from  him,  he  proved  quite  a 
different  looking  person  from  which  his  appearance  at  first  had  indicated. 

At  first  the  assassin  refused  to  give  any  name  whatever.  He  then  gave  three 
different  ones,  all  of  which  are  fictitious. 

He  was  taken  to  Mr.  Seward's  house,  and  placed  in  a  room  with  two  other 
strangers,  when  Mr.  Seward's  servant  boy  was  brought  mto  the  room  and  the 
question  asked  of  him — "  If  the  man  who  assaulted  Mr.  Seward  last  Friday  night 
was  in  the  room?" 

With  a  shudder  he  instantly  pointed  to  the  party  just  arrived,  and  said — "  That 
is  the  man."  He  was  also  identified  instantly  by  other  witnesses  of  the  tragedy, 
who  were  brought  into  the  room  separately. 

Not  the  slightest  doubt  is  entertained  by  the  ofHcers  that  the  person  arrested 
is  the  assassin  who  would  have  murdered  a  sick  man  in  his  bed,  and  have 
slaughtered  his  whole  family  in  carrying  out  his  fell  design. 

The  bloody  miscreant  has  been  imprisoned  in  a  perfectly  safe  place.  One  of 
the  names  given  by  the  assassin  was  Payne. 

Another  Account. 

Washington,  April  18. — Late  last  night  a  man  disguised  aS  a  laborer,  and 
carrying  a  pick  on  his  shoulder,  approached  the  house  occupied  by  the  family 
of  Surratt,  in  this  city,  and  was  about  to  enter,  when  he  was  arrested,  and  upon 
washing  the  dirt  from  his  face  he  proved  to  be  a  different  looking  nerson  from 
what  his  appearance  at  first  indicated. 

He  called  himself  Paine,  and  exhibited  not  a  little  embarrassment.  He 
managed  to  ask,  in  an  agitated  tone,  why  he  was  arrested. 

The  colored  servant  of  Secretary  Seward  was  sent  for,  when  he  immediately 
exclaimed : — "  That's  the  man  !  I  know  him  by  his  general  appearance  and  his 
mouth." 

The  servant  said  there  could  be  no  mistake.  Others  in  Secretary  Sewa-rd's 
house  at  the  time,  who  probably  have  a  recollection  of  his  appearance,  will  be 
afforded  an  opportunity  to-day  of  recognizing  him. 

He  is  believed  to  be  Surratt,  who  perpetrated  the  dreadful  act  at  Secretary 
Seward's  house  on  Friday. 

The  following  is  a  detailed  account  of  the  circiTmstances  under  which  the  man 
supposed  to  be  Surratt  was  arrested  : 

For  several  days  past  it  had  been  noticed  that  a  number  of  suspicious  persons 
were  in  the  habit  of  going  into  a  certain  house  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city  of 
Washington,  and  changing  their  clothes.  Last  evening  information  was  received 
about  ten  o'clock,  by  the  military  authorities,  that  the  house  was  occupied  by 
Mrs.  Surratt,  the  mother  of  John  H.  Surratt,  implicated  as  an  accomplice  in  the 
5 


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102  THE   ASSASSIN ATtON   OF    PRKSIDENT    LIN-COLN, 

recent  terrible  tragedies,  and  that  the  occupants  of  the  hens©  could  furnish 
valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  parties  charged  with  complicity  in  th« 
murder  of  the  President.  Colonel  Wells,  Provost  Marshal,  ordered  the  arrest  of 
these  parties.  Major  H.  "W.  Smith,  of  General  Augur's  staff,  and  Captain  Wer- 
merskirch,  assistant  of  Colonel  Olcott,  special  commissioner  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, were  charged  with  the  execution  of  this  dutjr.  Ttiese  officers  reached  the 
house  about  half-past  ten  o'clock,  and  arrested  Mrs.  M.  E.  Surratt  and  Miss  Anna 
riurratt,  mother  and  sister  of  John  H.  Surratt,  and  Miss  Honora  Fitzpatrick  and 
a  Miss  Holahan.  Soon  afterwards  Mr.  E.  C.  Morgan,  assistant  of  Colonel  Olcott, 
arrived',  and  proceeded  to  search  the  house,  examine  papers,  etc.  Abundant 
evidences  were  discovered  of  the  deep  sympathy  of  the  occupants  with  the  rebel 
cause,  and  also  of  their  intimacy  and  very  recent  communication  with  J.  Wilkes 
Booth,  the  murderer.  The  ladies  arrested  were  each  examined  separately,  and 
subsequently  sent  in  charge  of  officers  Rosh  and  Devoe  to  General  Augur's  head- 
quarters for  further  examination.  The  information  obtained  from  them  was  so 
unsatisfactory  and  contradictory  that  the  four  were  finally  sent  to  the  Old  Capitol 
prison  until  they  are  ready  to  testify  more  clearly  and  consistently. 

Just  as  the  ladies  were  preparing  to  leave  the  house,  there  was  a  light  knock 
at  the  front  door.  It  was  opened  by  Major  Morgan,  Major  Smith  and  Captain 
Wermerskirch  standing  by,  with  their  pistols  ready  to  be  used  if  necessary.  At 
the  door  was  a  young  looking  man,  about  five  feet  eleven  inches  in  statue,  light 
complexion,  with  peculiarly  large  gray  eyes,  and  hair  that  had  evidently  been 
dyed.  He  wore  a  gray  cassiraere  coat  and  vest,  fine  black  cloth  pantaloons,  and 
fine  boots.  His  boots  and  pantaloons  were  covered  with  mud  almost  to  th« 
knees,  and  his  whole  appearance  was  that  of  one  who  had  been  lying  out  in  the 
rain.  He  had  a  pickaxe  on  his  shoulder.  AVhen  the  door  was  opened  the  visitor 
exclaimed,  "  I  believe  I  am  mistaken,"  and  turned  to  go  away.  He  was  asked  by 
Mr.  Morgan  who  he  wanted  to  see.  He  answered,  "  Mrs.  Surratt."  Mr.  Morgan 
said,  "  Mrs.  Surratt  lives  here  ;  she  is  at  home  ;  walk  in."  He  then  came  in,  and 
was  ushered  into  the  parlor,  while  the  ladies  under  arrest  were  passed  out  of  the 
house  from  a  back  room  where  they  had  been  assembled.  After  being  seater^  ^". 
the  parlor,  the  man  with  the  pickaxe  was  closely  interrogated  as  to  his  business 
there  at  that  time  of  night,  twenty  minutes  after  eleven,  his  occupation,  etc.  In 
reply  he  stated  that  he  was  a  laboring  man,  and  had  been  sent  for  by  Mrs.  Sur- 
ratt to  dig  a  glitter,  and  had  called  to  know  what  time  next  morning  she  wished 
him  to  come  to  work ;  that  he  had  for  some  time  past  been  employed  on  the  Bal- 
timore and  Ohio  Railroad  as  a  laborer,  that  he  was  at  work  on  the  road  on  Friday 
last,  and  slept  that  night  with  the  other  road  hands ;  that  he  had  no  money,  and 
earned  his  living  with  his  pickaxe.  He  confusedly  attempted  to  tell  where  he 
had  slept  on  Sunday  night,  and  where  he  had  been  since  Saturday  morning ;  but 
often  contradicted  himself  and  broke  down  completely  in  this  part  of  his  narrative. 

During  the  investigation  he  produced  a  certificate  of  the  oath  of  allegiance,  pur- 
porting to  have  been  taken  by  Lewis  Paine,  of  Fauquier  county.  Virginia,  and 
claimed  that  that  was  his  name ;  but  when  questioned  about  it,  evidently  did  not 
know  any  thing  about  the  date  of  the  certificate.  He  asserted  frequently  that  he 
svas  a  poor  man,  and  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  earned  his  living  by  his 
daily  labor ;  but  his  language  was  that  of  a  man  of  education,  and  his  feet  and 
hands  were  small  and  well  shaped,  the  latter  being  delicate,  white  and  soft  as  a 
woman's,  and  unstained  with  any  mark  of  toil.  He  wore  on  his  head  a,  sort  of 
Scotch  skull-cap,  which  on  examination  was  foimd  to  have  been  made  by  cutting 
o3"  the  arm  of  a  stockinet  shirt,  or  the  leg  of  drawers  of  the  same  material,  the 
tup  of  the  cap  being  formed  by  tying  a  string  around  one  of  the  ends.  Upon 
searching  his  pockets  they  were  found  to  contain  a  comb,  hair  and  tooth  brushes, 
a  pot  of  pomatum,  a  package  of  pistol  cartridges,  a  new  pocket-compass,  and 
twenty-five  dollars  in  greenbacks.  After  the  preliminary  examination  he  wai 
taken  in  charge  of  officers  Sampson  and  Devoe,  to  General  Augur's  head-quarter.-*, 
where,  upon  further  examination,  he  gave  an  account  of  himself  quite  ditierent 
iVom  the  one  previously  given.  It  was  evident  that  he  was  in  disguise,  and  had 
been  completely  taken  by  surprise  in  finding  the  officers  at  the  house  where  he 
expected  to  find  a  welcome  and  refuge.  The  facts  disclosed  in  the  examiifatiou 
induced  the  belief  that  he  was  the  blood-thirsty  villain  who  had  attempted  the  lifo' 
of  Secretary  Seward  on  Friday  night  He  was  placed  in  a  room  with  two  other 
>Lrau£;ei'S.     The  light  was  made  dim,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  imitation  of  the  cou-. 


THE    ASSASSINATION    OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  103 

dition  of  the  light  in  Mr.  Seward's  room  on  that  eventful  night,  and  the  domestics 
of  Mr.  Reward  were  sent  for.  Upon  entering  the  room  the  porter,  a,  colored  boy 
about  seventeen  years  of  age,  threw  up  his  hands  with  an  exclamation  of  horror, 
and,  pointing  to  the  man,  said,  "  That  is  the  man  !  I  don't  want  to  see  him ;  he 
did  it ;  I  know  him  by  that  lip  I"  The  servant  had  already  previously  described 
some  peculiarity  about  the  upper  lip  of  the  man  whom  he  had  admitted  to  com- 
mit tlie  foul  and  murderous  deed.  He  was  subsequently  recognized  by  others  a? 
the  man  who  perpetrated  the  murderous  deed  at  Secretary  Seward's,  and  testimony 
lias  been  procured,  tracing  liim,  step  by  step,  from  tlie  time  of  his  separation  from 
Hooth  until  he  entered  Reward's  house.  The  chain  of  evidence  is  complete,  ami 
I'iistens  upon  him  as  the  perpetrator  of  the  horrid  crime  which  has  shocked  the 
v/hole  community.  The  villain  was  heavily  ironed,  and  placed  in  confinement  on 
one  of  the  gunboats.  The  trail  of  John  Wilkes  Booth  has  also  been  discovered, 
and  it  is  expected  that  he,  too,  will  be  in  custody  before  morning.  Several  other 
parties  are  now  in  confinement,  who  have  been  ascertained  to  be  accomplices 
before  the  fact  in  the  awful  tragedy.  The  investigations  already  made  reveal  a 
plot  well  laid,  and  long  and  carefully  matured  for  murder  and  arson,  on  a  scale  so 
grandly  diabolical  as  to  be  hardly  conceivable. 


ASSASSINS 


and  the  Great  Ones  of  the  World  who  have  fallen  by  their  Hands. 

Illustrious  actions  can  be  most  surely  entrusted  to  the  universal  remembrance 
of  mankind ;  but  great  crimes  also  take  their  place  in  memory,  and  in  history, 
'joncentrating,  as  it  were,  the  history  of  a  whole  country  in  one  person. 

In  the  midst  of  happiness,  in  a  time  when  our  national  honor  is  redeemed,  when 
power  and  peace  were  brought  together,  when  we  had  proudly  thrown  our  old 
Hag  to  the  breeze,  and  joyous  throngs  met  in  the  streets,  brought  together  by 
our  universal  love  of  country,  with  hearts  full  of  joy  and  gratitude  to  one  who 
bore  his  honors  so  meekly,  shrinking  even  from  expressions  of  gratitude  for  his 
signal  and  patriotic  services,  the  pistol  of  an  assassin  rouses  "  through  the  corri- 
ders  of  time"  the  memories  of  those  victims  and  their  assassins  of  whom  history 
has  preserved  eternal  records. 

Assassin  did  not  originally  mean  any  one  who  committed  a  crime,  but  the  mem- 
ber of  a  distinct  order,  meaning  a  secret  sect  of  the  Ishmaelites  founded  by  Hassan 
Homairi,  who,  in  their  technical  phrase,  was  called  the  ilan  of  the  Mountain. 
This  secret  society  had  the  pretension  to  imitate  the  Christian  order  of  Knight- 
hood. Probably  such  also  is  the  pretension  of  the  Elnights  of  the  Golden  Circle  ; 
at  any  rate  their  missions  were  alike,  for  this  association  spread  terror  around  it 
by  the  hideous  and  unlooked-for  crimes  it  perpetrated. 

A 11  the  members  vowed  implicit  obedience  to  their  chief,  committing  even  self-de- 
struction at  his  command.  But  before  these  commands  were  given,  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  chiefs  to  throw  the  executioners  of  dark  deeds  into  a  state  of  deli- 
rium by  the  intoxicating  influence  of  hemp,  or  hashish,  just  as  Booth  drank 
Lr;uidy  before  perpetrating  the  deed  that  now  overshadows  the  land. 

The  members,  from  the  custom  of  taking  hashich,  came  to  be  called  Hashishim, 
■r  Hemp-eaters,  which  being  translated  and  corrupted  became  in  European  lan- 
guages ASSASSIN,  ASSASsiNO,  and  so  forth.  In  all  times  and  ages  men  liave  been 
tempted  to  crime  on  the  good  and  great 

Coastantine  VI. 
Irene,  Empress  consort  of  Greece,  was  an  ambitious  woman,  by  birth  a  Eoman. 
By  the  death  of  her  husband  she  lost  her  power,  which  was  of  course,  vested  in 
his  successor  and  son,,  Constantine  VI.  After  a  long  minority,  the  Empres.s 
finding  that  all  authority  would  now  escape  her  forever,  caused  her  son's  eyes  to 
be  put  out,  and  then  afterwards  had  him  strangled  (a  favorite  way  of  taking  Hie 
in  tho?e  days).  Irene  reigned  herself  prosperously,  though  at  last  offeaiding  the 
courtiers  around  her,  she  was  deposed,  and  finally  died  in  exile. 


104  THE  ASSASSINATION  OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

■William  Rufus. 

"William  Rufus,  the  unworthy  son  of  William  the  Conqueror,  •who  had  been  a 
rreat  man,  knowing  how  to  conciliate  the  conquered,  was  a  great  hunter.  In 
order  to  indulge  his  favorite  pastime,  he  confiscated  all  the  lands  that  obstructed 
his  project  of  forming  a  vast  forest  in  which  the  game  could  accumxilate. 

Sir  Walter  Tyrrel,  one  of  those  who  had  suffered  by  this  fancy  of  the  king, 
watching  his  opportunity,  shot  him  with  an  arrow,  and  escaped  immediately  to 
France.  William  Eufus  lies  buried  in  Winchester  Cathedral,  and  the  new  forest, 
still  retaining  its  name,  is  one  of  the  most  lovely  spots  in  Hampshire. 

Cola  di  Rienzi. 

In  the  days  of  Clement  VI.,  Di  Rienzi,  the  son  of  a  tavern-keeper  and  a  washer- 
woman, imbued  with  an  enthusiasm  for  the  great  deeds  of  antiquity,  conceived 
the  project  of  re-establishing  a  Roman  Republic.  This  wonderful  resolution  found 
followers  sufficient  to  become  successful,  and  Rienzi  was  elected  to  the  head  of 
the  Government,  under  the  title  of  Tribune. 

Great  was  the  enthusiasm  created  by  this  return  to  the  classical  age.  Petrarch 
was  one  of  its  great  admirers  and  supporters.  But  popular  favor  is  vain  and 
unstable,  especially  in  Italy,  and  a  sedition  was  excited  against  him.  The  mob 
that  had  once  cheered  him,  now  executed  him,  and  he  was  killed  by  an  infuriated 
follower  of  the  people,  and  his  body  afterwards  pierced  in  their  wild  fury  with 
innumerable  wounds. 

Massaniello. 

The  people  of  Naples  had  long  suffered  under  the  oppression  of  the  Spanish 
Viceroys.  The  people  were  ready  for  revolt,  when  an  affray  in  market,  caused 
by  an  insult  offered  by  the  Spanish  authorities  to  the  wife  of  Tomaso  Aniello, 
commonly  called  Massaniello,  gave  the  signal  for  revolt.  Massaniello  was  a  man 
of  courage  and  native  genius.  He  guided  the  people  with  judgment  and  tact,  and 
succeeded  in  obtaraing  all  he  demanded  of  the  Spanish  ruler.  He  was  invested 
with  supreme  power.  Then,  all  being  accomplished,  the  wily  viceroy  set  to  work 
to  destroy  the  man  whom  his  fears  had  exalted.  In  a  banquet  to  which  he  in- 
vited the  young  liberator  of  Naples,  he  administered  a  drug  which,  acting  on  his 
brain,  made  him  commit  acts  of  madness  which  lost  him  the  affection  of  the  peo- 
ple. A  conspiracy  was  the  consequence,  and  in  an  insurrection  Massaniello  was 
assassinated  by  one  of  his  former  companions  and  friends,  Gennaro  Annese. 

James  I.,  of  Scotland, 

was  a  man  whose  mind  and  genius  were  far  in  advance  of  the  country  in  which  he 
lived.  He  meditated  many  rational  reforms  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition 
of  the  people,  and  so,  of  course,  offended  the  nobility,  who  decided  on  getting  rid 
of  him. 

Surprising  him  one  evening  as  he  sat  in  the  Castle  of  Perth,  in  the  midst  of 
the  queen  and  her  ladies,  after  a  fierce  struggle  and  several  escapes,  they  barbar- 
ously stabbed  him,  iuflicting  numerous  wounds,  and  killing  him  almost  in  the 
arms  of  his  wife. 

The  queen,  as  well  as  the  ladies  in  attendance,  all  tried  to  save  him.  Catharine 
Douglas,  one  of  the  maids  of  honor,  on  the  first  alarm,  finding  that  a  bolt  had 
been  removed  from  a  room  through  which  the  murderers  were  heard  approaching, 
thrust  her  arm  through  the  large  staples,  and  so  retarded  the  entrance  of  the 
assassins,  until,  by  their  efforts,  her  arm  was  crushed  as  they  burst  open  the 
doors. 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  of  England. 

This  chivalrous  man,  whose  deeds  have  been  the  theme  of  poetry  and  romance, 
after  a  most  brilliant  career,  was  treacherously  killed  by  the  Viscount  de  Limoges, 
in  France,  whilst  parleying  with  him  under  the  protection  of  a  flag-of-truce. 

Henry  IV.,  of  Prance  and  ITavarre. 

Henry  Quatre  was  one  of  the  most  popular  monarchs  of  France.  Brave, 
worthy,  just,  generous  and  brilliant,  his  character  suited  exactly  with  the  charac- 
ter of  the  people  he  governed.  Under  his  rule  they  were  happy  and  prosperous, 
yet  no  less  than  twenty-eight  times  was  his  life  attempted.  The  last  attempt 
was  destined  to  be  successful. 


THR    ASSASSINATION   OP   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  105 

The  king  had  been  a  Protestant,  and  was  suspected  by  zealous  Catholics  of 
cmly  having  joined  their  Church  from  policy.  This  armed  fanaticism  in  th« 
person  of  Francois  Eavaillac,  who,  watching  his  opportunity,  found  means  to  mor- 
tally wound  the  king  with  a  dagger  as  he  was  returning  on  his  way  to  visit  his 
friend  and  counsellor,  the  Count  de  Sully.  Ravaillac  died  on  the  wheel,  which 
tore  him  limb  from  hmb. 

If  the  building  mania  of  the  present  emperor  has  not  destroyed  it,  there  is  still 
in  the  Rue  de  la  Fernonese  (one  of  the  narrowest  and  dirtiest  in  the  French  caj>- 
ital),  an  inscription  on  the  house  in  front  of  which  the  deed  was  committed, 
commemorating  the  crime  and  the  catastrophe. 

'  ,,  Kouli-Kban. 

Kouli-Khan  was  King  of  Persia.  He  had  been  educated  by  a  European,  and 
possessed  great  intellect  and  military  talent.  He  meditated  the  civilization  of 
Persia,  as  well  as  its  aggrandizement.  One  of  his  favorite  projects  was  the  con- 
quest of  British  India,  which  he  accomplished  to  a  certain  extent,  reaching  and 
taking  Delhi. 

But  his  glory  and  his  progressive  ideas  in  government  offended  the  nobles  and 
those  around  him,  and  in  1747  he  was  stabbed  in  his  tent  by  his  nephew,  whilst 
his  body-guard,  turning  traitors,  kept  all  who  would  have  rescued  him  from  ap- 
proaching. 

Gustavus  of  Sweden. 

The  death  of  this  good  and  brilliant  monarch  has,  through  romance  and  opera, 
become  well  known.  He  was  killed  at  a  masked  ball  by  Captain  Ankerstroem, 
formerly  an  ofiicer  in  the  army.  The  liberal  principles  of  the  king,  and  a  discon- 
tented and  vain  disposition,  yearning  for  distinction,  impelled  this  assassination, 
for  which  the  perpetrator,  one  of  a  secret  conspiracy,  was  first  degraded  by  being 
flogged  and  then  hanged. 

George  III. 

The  life  of  this  monarch,  whose  qualities  and  defects  were  alike  inoffensive,  was 
attempted  several  times!  The  nearest  attempt  to  success  was  by  Margaret 
Nicholson.  The  king  was  getting  into  his  carriage  at  the  garden  entrance  of  St. 
James'  palace,  when  a  woman  advanced  and  presented  a  petition.  Whilst  the 
king  was  opening  it,  she  struck  at  him  with  a  knife.  The  king  warded  off  the 
blow,  and  as  she  was  preparing  to  strike  again,  one  of  the  yeomen  of  the  guard 
seized  the  assassin. 

The  king,  turning  to  the  anxious  crowd,  exclaimed  in  a  loud  voice  : — "  I  am  not 
hurt,"  and  thus  prevented  a  popular  outburst.  The  woman,  when  examined,  was 
found  to  be,  or  pretended  to  be  insane.     She  was  put  into  a  mad-house  for  life. 

Paul  I.,  of  Russia. 

Paul  had  wearied  the  world  by  his  wild  career  both  at  home  and  abroad ;  his 
hatred  of  England  amounted  to  a  monomania.  He  aimed  also  at  the  power  of  his 
nobles,  which  in  Russia  is  almost  as  great  as  that  of  the  sovereign. 

His  death  was  decided  on  and  executed,  not  only  by  his  nobles,  but  his  wife  and 
children  aided  in  the  deed.  He  was  strangled, with  a  sUken  scarf,  after  being 
dragged  from  his  bed,  by  Count  Whalem. 

His  sons,  Constantino  and  Alexander,  were  both  in  the  room,  and  his  wife  wa.<j 
with  her  son  Nicholas  in  the  adjoining  chamber,  awaiting  the  completion  of  the 
crime  to  which  both  were  privy.  This  crime,  which  sounds  like  the  dark  ages, 
was  committed  as  late  as  the  year  1801.  Alexander  succeeded  his  father  to  the 
throne. 

Queen  Vietoria. 

If  ever  monarch  was  respected  or  woman  loved  by  a  whole  nation,  that  woman 
is  Victoria,  Queen  of  England.  Yet  no  less  than  five  times  has  her  life  been 
attempted.  Four  of  these  attempts  were,  however,  by  people  desiring  notoriety, 
who  could  give  no  reasonable  motive  for  the  deed.  Two  of  the  criminals  were 
•ent  to  an  insane  asylum  for  life,  whilst  two  were  transported. 

The  fifth  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  Queen  was  as  she  was  driving  from  Buck- 
ingham Palace,  through  the  park,  seated  in  her  usual  carriage,  an  open  barouche, 
with  four  houses,  two  servants,  and  two  outsiders  ;  the  Queen  was  conversing  with 
Prince  Albert,  smiling  and  bowing  to  all  the  greetings  and  salutations  she  rtJ- 


106  THE   ASSASSINi-TION   OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

ceived  on  her  way,  when  the  Prince  was  seen  to  throw  himself  suddenly  in  front 
of  the  Queen,  and  at  the  same  moment  the  report  of  a  pistol  was  heard. 

The  ball  passed  over  the  head  of  the  Prince.  Prince  Albert,  gazing  out  at  the 
crowd,  had  suddenly  seen  the  bright  barrel  of  a  pistol,  on  which  a  ray  of  the  sun 
was  shining,  and  had  understood  the  purport  of  the  man  who  held  it. 

Without  giving  any  sign  of  alarm,  he  hesitated  not  an  instant  to  sacrifice  hi* 
own  life  for  that  of  the  Queen,  or  rather  let  us  think  it  was  the  husband  who  gave 
his  life  to  save  that  of  his  wife.  The  assassin  was  never  taken ;  but  the  Prince 
made  great  progress  in  the  aflfections  of  the  English  people  by  the  spontaneous 
proof  of  his  love  and  devotion  to  their  beloved  Queen. 

Napoleon  I. 

In  the  reign  of  the  great  Napoleon,  there  was,  it  is  said,  a  special  department 
in  the  office  of  the  secret  police  dedicated  exclusively  to  discovering  plots  against 
the  life  of  the  Emperor,  and  it  is  also  said  that  this  department  was  never  idle. 
Three  or  four  plots  a  day  was  the  common  allowance. 

The  greatest  and  the  nearest  to  success  was  the  attempt  (a  royalist  attempt) 
hy  the  infernal  machine.  This  machine  was  placed  in  the  way  Napoleon  was  to 
take  going  from  the  Tuileries  to  the  opera.  Every  thing,  especially  the  exact 
lime  of  his  arrival  on  the  spot,  had  been  calculated — all  calculated,  in  fact,  but 
tlie  influence  of  Josephine  on  his  destiny. 

She  it  was  who  saved  him.  Just  as  they  were  about  to  depart,  she  took  it  into 
her  little  coquettish  head  that  the  India  shawl  she  wore  was  not  becoming,  and 
gent  for  another — consequently  a  delay  of  over  five  minutes.  Whilst  the  Empress 
was  getting  her  shawl,  the  fuses  were  burning,  and  the  machine  exploded  three 
minutes  before  the  imperial  carriage  got  to  the  spot.  liMany  persons  were  killed, 
but  Napoleon  was  saved,  and  by  Josephine,  whom,  on  his  marriage  day,  he  had 
called  the  "  star"  of  his  destiny. 

Napoleon  III. 

•  Plots  and  counterplots  are  said  to  occupy  the  mind  of  the  Minister  of  Police 
almost  as  much  as  in  the  time  of  the  first  Emperor.  The  most  important  attempt 
on  Napoleon's  life  is  the  one  in  which  Orsini  and  Pierri  were  the  conspirators. 
It  was  one  planned  in  the  manner  of  the  infernal  machine. 

It  exploded  as  the  Emperor  approached  the  opera ;  many  of  the  projectiles  fell 
into  his  carriage,  yet  he  was  not  wounded,  neither  was  the  Empress  ;  and  Napoleon 
III.  was  looked  upon  by  the  people  as  bearing  a  charmed  life. 

Orsini  and  Pierri  were  Italian  patriots,  who  had  belonged  to  the  Carbonari, 
with  whom  I^ouis  Napoleon  had  himself,  in  his  early  days  in  Italy,  been  as- 
sociated. 

When  he  attained  to  power  the  Carbonari  exacted  his  aid  in  the  restoration  of 
Italian  liberty,  which  aid  he  promised.  Not  fulfilling  his  promise  sufficiently 
promptly,  Orsini  and  Pierri  believed  him  a  traitor  to  their  cause — hence  their 
vengeance.  They  were  both  executed  in  1858,  and  since  their  death  Napoleon^ 
at  Magenta  and  Solferino,  fulfilled  his  promise  to  the  Carbonari,  and  has  made 
Italy  one  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  under  an  Italian  king — Victor  Em- 
manuel. 


ATTEMPTED   ASSASSINATIONS    IN  MODERN    TIMES. 

{From  the  Toronto  Leader.) 
A  crime  so  horrible  as  assassination  ia  held  in  detestation  and  abhorrence  by 
every  civilized  people.  The  savage  tribes  of  America,  by  whom  it  ia  systemati- 
cally practised,  resort  to  it  only  to  avenge  the  murder  of  a  relative.  Unless  under 
peculiar  circirmstances,  it  carries  with  it  the  presumption  of  cowardice,  the  excep- 
tions being  where  the  horrid  deed  is  done  in  public,  and  the  perpetrator  places 
his  own  Ufe  in  imminent  hazard,  either  from  the  fury  of  the  populace  or  those 
more  regular  steps  which  lead  through  a  judicial  process  to  a  felon's  death.  The 
assassin  of  Mr.  Lincoln  could  hardly  hope  to  escape,  though  the  murderer — in 
intent,  if  not  in  fact — of  Mr.  Seward  had  more  chance  in  his  favor.  There  are  not 
wanting,  in  recent  times,  plenty  of  instances  of  attempts  being  made  to  assassinate 
royal  or  other  eminent  poUtical  personages ;  but  they  have  almost  invariably  mis- 


THK   ASSASSIXITION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'.  107 

carried  from  one  cause  or  another.  The  attempts  on  the  life  of  Napoleon  III.  are 
fresh  in  the  miblic  recollection ;  but  though  they  have  been  mor?  than  once 
repeated,  the  Emperor  of  the  French  still  lives.  We  are  many  of  us  old  enough 
to  remember  the  plot  of  Fiaschi  to  murder  Louis  Phillippe,  and  to  recall  the  days 
when  the  Duke  of  Wellington  found  it  necessary  to  secure  his  windows  with  thick 
iron  shutters.  Not  all  the  virtues  of  our  own  Queen  and  the  love  which  is  borne 
her  by  her  subjects  have  protected  her,  at  all  times,  from  attempts  upon  her  life. 
In  1840  a  madman  shot  at  the  Queen  and  the  Princess  Royal ;  and  at  another 
time,  a  captain  of  dragoons  assaulted  her  Majesty  by  horsewhipping  her.  The 
successful  attempt,  in  recent  times,  to  assassinate  a  statesman  in  the  case  of  Mr. 
Percival,  shot  by  Bellingham  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1811. 
Bellingham  acted  from  a  sense  of  personal  injury.  A  Russian  merchant,  he 
attributed  his  ruin  to  Percival,  and  took  this  means  of  revenge.  At  a  still  later 
date,  within  about  twenty  years,  an  attempt  was  made  on  the  life  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  and  the  ball  intended  for  him  struck  and  killed  his  private  Secretary,  Mr. 
Drummond.  In  1820  was  formed  the  Cato  street  conspiracy,  with  Thistlewood 
at  its  head,  for  the  purpose  of  assassinating  the  whole  British  Cabinet,  at  a 
dinner  to  be  given  at  Lord  Harrowby's  house,  in  Grosvenor  Square.  The 
conspiracy  was  denounced  by  government  spies,  and  Thistlewood  was  executed 
for  the  crime.  About  twenty  years  before  this  time,  a  madman  named  Hadfield 
fired  from  the  pit  of  Drury-Lane  Theatre  at  George  III.  in  his  box,  and  missing 
his  aim,  was  tried  for  treason,  but  not  convicted,  on  account  of  his  irresponsible 
condition.  He  was  kept  in  confinement  for  safety.  This  was  the  second  attempt 
on  the  life  of  that  king,  Margaret  Nicholson  having  in  1786,  attempted  to  stab 
his  Majesty  with  a  knife  as  he  was  alighting  from  his  carriage  near  St.  James' 
Palace.  The  woman  wasr,  treated  as  a  maniac,  and  confined  in  Bethlehem 
Hospital.  All  these  attempts  to  assassinate  royal  and  distinguished  political 
personages  taken  together,  were  not  attended  with  as  much  success  as  the  two 
which  were  made  simultaneously  at  Washington  last  Friday  night.  The  success 
of  these  attempts  is  more  uimsual  than  the  acts  themselves.  And  the  reasons 
for  that  success  are  plain.  An  English  King  may  be  fired  at,  as  we  have  seen, 
from  the  pit  of  a  theatre,  or  an  Emperor  of  the  French  may  encounter  an 
attempt  at  assassination  the  moment  he  passes  out  of  the  opera  into  his 
carriage ;  but  at  Washington  an  assassin  can  get  immediately  behiud  the  Chief 
Magistrate  in  his  box  at  the  theatre,  and  make  sure  of  his  murderous  purpose. 
Percival  was  shot  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel 
was  shot  at  in  the  street ;  but  at  Washington  the  assassin,  with  a  clumsy  lie  in 
his  mouth,  finds  ready  admission  to  the  sick  chamber  of  a  feeble  and  emaciated 
minister  of  State,  and  strikes  blows  which  he  intended  to  be  m6rtal.  This 
strange  facility  of  access  to  great  political  personages  having  proved  fatal,  may 
cause  the  notions  of  primitive  simplicity  which  were  thought  to  comport  with 
the  character  of  that  Republic,  to  be  revised,  and  it  may  henceforth  be  found 
necessary  to  surround  the  President  of  the  United  States  with  that  protection 
which  is  accorded  to  Kings  and  Emperors  in  Europe.  In  this  way  the  manners 
of  the  Republican  court  of  Washington  may  undergo  a  change.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  motive  for  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  and  the  attempt 
on  the  life  of  Secretary  Seward,  they  can  but  inspire  horror  in  all  right-minded 
persons  everywhere.  So  far  as  the  cause  of  the  South  is  identified  with  these 
acts,  it  will  suffer  in  the  estimation  of  the  world.  There  is  nothing  to  be  gained 
to  any  cause  by  so  horrible  a  crime  as  assassination,  and  much  to  be  lost.  One 
of  the  effects  will  be,  in  this  case,  to  exasperate  the  North  against  the  South, 
and  to  cause  it  to  insist  on  much  harder  conditions,  when  the  question  of  final 
reconciliation  comes  to  be  discussed,  than  it  otherwise  would  have  done.  There 
were  two  parties  in  the  North ;  one  in  favor  of  mild  measures,  such  as  foregoing 
the  right  of  confiscating  the  property  of  men  who  had  been  in  arms  against  the 
Washington  Government ;  the  other  insisting  on  the  hanging  of  Jefferson  Davia 
whenever  he  shotild  be  caught,  and  similar  measures  of  extreme  severity.  The 
"  malignants,"  as  they  were  not  inaptly  called,  were  likely  to  have  been  greatly  in 
the  minority ;  but  the  temper  of  the  North  will  be  exasperated  by  the  assassina- 
tion of  their  President  and  the  murderous  attack  upon  Secretary  Seward,  and 
mild  and  merciful  councils  will  be  likely  to  be  forgotten  in  the  bad  feeling  that 
will  once  more  become  predominant.  Outside  the  United  States,  these  assassina- 
tions will  injure  the  cause  of  the  South  in  the  estimation  of  the  world,  precisely 


108  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

in  the  proportion  that  Southerners  may  be  fbund  to  have  been  in  the  plot  or  to 
have  approved  of  the  crime  after  its  j^erpetration.  That  the  death  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  will  alter  the  war  policy  of  the  Northern  States  cannot  be  supposed. 
He  was  but  a  representative  man ;  and  the  large  vote  he  recorded  on  his  re- 
election shows  how  much  more  fully  he  came  up  to  the  Northern  standard  than 
General  McClellan.  The  assassins  have  not  learned  the  great  lesson  that 
individuals,  in  great  emergencies,  count  for  very  little ;  that  it  is  the  general  bent 
of  the  national  mind,  and  not  the  will  or  the  power  of  an  individual,  that 
controls  the  policy  of  the  nation,  in  circumstances  similar  to  those  of  the  United 
States.  The  policy  of  the  North,  be  it  right  or  wrong,  will  not  die  with  President 
Ijincoln.  . 


BOOTH,    THE   ASSASSIN, 

HE  IS  TRACED  TO   HIS   HIDING-PLACE— HE   REFUSES   TO   SUR- 
RENDER HIMSELF. 


THE     CAPTURE     OF     HAROIiD. 


BOOTH  SHOWS  FIGHT—THE  BAEN  SET  ON  FIRE. 


Death  of  the  Murderer  of  Lincoln! 


BOW  BOOTH  WAS   DISCOVERED— LOYAL   NEGROES    GUIDE   HIS 
PURSUERS— HIS  BODY  AT  WASHINGTON. 


FuU  Particulars  of  the  Pursuit  and  Capture. 

OFFICIAL    GAZETTE. 

Washington,  Aprilll — 9-30,  A.M. — Major-General  Dix,  New- York  :  J.  Wilkes 
Booth  and  Harold  were  chased  from  the  swamp  in  St.  Mary's  county,  Mary'land, 
to  Garrett's  farm,  near  Port  Royal,  on  the  Rappahannock,  by  Colonel  Baker's 
force. 

The  rear  of  the  barn  in  which  they  took  refus:e  was  fired.  Booth,  in  makinar 
his  escape,  was  shot  through  the  head  and  killed,  lingering  about  three  hours,  and 
Harold  was  captured.     Booth's  body,  and  Harold,  are  now  here. 

(Signed)  Edwin  M.  Stantox, 

Secretary  of  War. 

[Port  Royal,  Virginia,  near  whieh  Booth  and  Harold  were  taken,  is  en  the 
south  side  of  the  Rappahannock,  about  twenty  miles  below  Fredericksburg.  The 
belief  heretofore  entertained,  that  Booth,  after  committing  his  crime,  took  refuge 
in  the  southern  counties  of  Maryland,  with  a  view  to  crossing  the  Potomac  into 
Virginia,  is  confirmed.] 


THE  PURSUIT  AND  DEATH  OF  BOOTH. 

Wasliington,  April  27. — Booth,  after  assassinating  President  Lincoln  and 
making  a  tragic  exit  from  the  stage  of  the  theatre,  mounted  his  horse  and  rode 
off,  accompanied  by  an  accomplice,  named  Harold,  a  young  Marylander.  To 
avoid  suspicion,  they  separated,  meeting  at  a  place  called  Marlboro. 

Booth,  in  jumping  from  the  box,  had  fractured  one  of  the  small  bones  of  hi« 
left  leg,  just  ahove  the  ankle,  and  the  limb  ht\d  swollen  during  the  ride,  causing 
much  pain.  Harold  took  him  to  the  house  of  a  Dr.  Mudge,  where  the  boot  was 
cut  off  and  the  limb  bandaged. 

The  two  fugitives  remained  some  days  in  Maryland,  and  Harold  states  that 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S 


FUNERAL  CAR. 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  109 

he  saw  the  cavalry  and  detectives  very  near  their  place  of  concealment  several 
times. 

They  were  harbored  by  sympathizers  with  the  rebel  cause,  and  the  only  persons 
who  have  given  any  information  about  them  are  those  'oyal  southerners  who  are 
easily  distinguished  by  their  dark  skins.  ' 

Colonel  Baker  on  the  track  of  the  Assassins. 

Meanwhile  Colonel  L.  0.  Baker,  Provost  Marshal  of  the  War  Department,  had 
taker,  no  part  in  the  search  made  in  Maryland  for  Booth  by  a  large  military  force, 
aided  by  Colonel  Olcott  and  the  New  York  detectives,  as  he  was  waiting  for  some 
definite  information  of  his  whereabouts. 

On  IVfonday  afternoon  he  received  intelligence  that  Booth  and  Harold  had 
probably  crossed  the  Potomac  at  Swan's  point.  Those  engaged  in  searching  for 
them  did  not  know  that  they  had  crossed.  Having  consulted  maps  of  Virginia, 
which  he  obtained  from  the  office  of  the  Coast  Survey,  Colonel  Baker  made  up  his 
miud  that  Booth  and  Harold  must  have  gone  to  the  vicinity  of  Port  Royal,  a  quiet 
village  below  Fredericksburg  on  the  Rappahannock. 

He  accordingly  wrote  to  General  Hancock,  requesting  him  to  detail  a  commis- 
sioned officer  and  twenty-five  cavalrymen  to  report  to  any  one  he  might  designate. 
He  then  gave  instructions  to  two  of  his  detective  force  Lieutenant  Luther  B. 
Baker  and  E.  J.  Conger,  formerly  Ueutenant-colonel  of  the  cavaky  regiment  which 
Colonel  Baker  commanded. 

The  Escort. 

which  subsequently  reported  and  started  off  under  the  orders  of  Detectives 
Casker  and  Conger,  belonged  to  the  16th  New  York  Cavalry,  which  has  for  some 
months  been  looking  after  Moseby's  .guerillas  over  in  Virginia. 

The  Commander  of  the  Escort. 

Lieutenant  Edward  P.  Dougherty,  who  commanded  the  escort,  was  at  one  time 
a  resident  in  Boston.  When  the  rebellion  broke  out  he  came  here  as  a  private  in 
the  New  York  Seventy-first,  in  which  regiment  he  foiight  at  the  first  Bull  Run. 
He  afterwards  enlisted  in  the  Berdan  Sharp-Shooters,  and  was  then  transferred 
into  the  Sixteenth  New  York  Cavalry,  where  he  has  so  distinguished  himself  as 
to  secure  promotion.  ' 

He  was  especially  commended  last  fall  when,  on  making  a  reconnoissance  near 
Culpepper  Court  House  with  a  .small  force,  he  encountered  Kershaw's  Rebel 
Cavalry  Division,  but  gallantly  cut  his  way  out. 

Booth's  Executioner. 

Sergeant  Boston  Corbett,  who  shot  Booth,  is  a  religious  enthusiast,  who  has 
made  the  character  of  Cromwell  his  study.  He  was  born  in  England,  is  about 
tliirty-three  years  old,  and  is  by  trade  a  hat  finisher. 

About  seve-n  years  since,  while  in  Boston,  he  experienced  religion,  and  when 
baptized,  assumed  the  name  of  the  city  where  he  became  converted,  and  since 
then  he  has  always  prayed  for  Divine  instruction  before  taking  any  step  in  lii'e, 
and  he  says  that  he  has  always  been  prompted  what  to  do. 

He  was  at  one  time  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  and  was  one  of  a  party 
of  sixteen  who  escaped.  They  were  hunted  down  with  bloodhounds,  and  only 
himself  and  one  of  his  companions  were  brought  back  alive. 

On  the  Sunday  after  President  Lincoln  was  assassinated,  Sergeant  Corbbett 
obtained  leave  to  attend  services  at  JIcKentree  Chapel  here,  and  there  prayed 
fervently  that  the  assassins  might  be  punished. 

How  the  Assassins  were  Discovered. 

The  detectives  and  their  escort  went  down  on  a  steamboat  to  Belle  Plain,  when? 
they  landed  before  day  on  Monday  morning,  and  struck  across  for  the  Rappa- 
hannock. 

There  is  a  ferry  above  Port  Royal,  and  the  ferryman  denies  having  ferried  over 
nny  men  answering  to  the  descriptions  of  Booth  and  Harold.  But  a  colored 
man  looking  over  Lieutenant  Baker's  shoulder  at  a  photograph  of  Booth,  which 
lie  was  showing  the  ferryman,  exclaimed  :  "  I  saw  that  man  across  the  river — he 
v/as  in  a  wagon  with  three  other  men."  The  loyal  although  sable  Virginian  was 
right      It  appears  that  Booth  and  Harold  had  crossed  the  Potomac  in  a  canoe, 


110  THE   ASSASSINATION'  OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

for  which  they  paid  three  hundred  dollars,  and  were  met  on  the  Viririnia  shore  by 
two  Confederate  officers  with  a  two-horse  wagon.  Booth  wore  a  grey  suit  without 
any  military  insignia  of  rank. 

At  Port  Royal  the  dete'*ive3  learned  that  one  of  the  Confederjite  officers  had 
a  sweetheart  at  Bowling  Green,  and  had  probably  gone  there.  So  the  party 
started  in  pursuit,  passing  on  their  way  a  farm  where  resided  two  brothers  named 
William  and  John  Garrett,  who  have  been  in  the  Rebel  army,  their  house  being 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  road. 

After  having  gone  about  three  miles  from  the  Garretts'  house,  the  party  met  a 
loyal  Virginan,  of  dark  skin,  of  course,  and  from  him  learned  that  Booth  and 
Harold  were  at  the  Garretts'.  "Right  about!"  was  the  word,  and  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  pursuers  arrived  there. 

Statement  of  the  Garretts. 

Here  let  us  state  what  the  Garretts  say  about  their  visitors  who  came  to  their 
house  on  Friday  or  Saturday  of  last  week. 

The  fugitives  were  brought  in  a  wagon  by  two  Confederate  officers,  who  spoke 
of  Booth  as  a  wounded  Marylander  on  his  way  home,  and  that  they  wished  to 
leave  him  there  a  short  time,  and  would  take  him  away  by  the  26th. 

Booth  limped  somewhat,  and  walked  on  crutches  about  the  place,  complaining 
of  his  ankle.  He  and  Harold  regularly  took  their  meals  at  the  house,  and  Booth 
kept  up  appearances  well. 

One  day  at  the  dinner  table,  the  conversation  turned  on  the  assassination  of 
the  President,  when  Booth  denounced  the  assassination  in  the  severest  terms, 
saying  that  there  was  no  punishment  severe  enough  for  the  perpetrator.  At 
another  time  some  one  said  in  Booth's  presence,  that  rewards  amounting  to 
$200,000,  had  been  offered  for  Booth,  and  that  he  would  like  to  catch  him,  when 
Booth  replied,  "Yes,  it  would  be  a  good  haul,  but  the  amount  would  doubtless 
Boon  be  increased  to  $500,000," 

After  our  cavalry  passed  towards  Bowling  Green,  Booth  and  Harold  applied  to 
one  of  the  Garretts  for  two  horses,  that  they  might  ride  to  Louisa  Court  House, 
but  he  fearing  that  the  horses  would  not  be  returned,  refused  to  let  them  go. 
Some  words  of  recrimination  passed  between  Booth  and  Harold,  and  the  Garretts 
becoming  suspicious  that  all  was  not  right,  urged  them  to  le^ve.  This  they 
refused  to  do  unless  they  could  be  supplied  with  horses ;  and  the  Garretts  then 
said  that  if  they  remained,  they  must  sleep  in  the  barn.  One  of  the  Garretts 
went  to  sleep  in  the  corn  crib,  fearing  as  he  says,  that  the  strangers  would  steal 
their  horses 

Preparations  for  the  Capture. 

On  returning  to  the  Garretts'  house.  Lieutenant  Baker  halted  his  force,  and 
going  in,  obtained  a  reluctant  confession  from  the  brother  there,  where  the 
criminals  were.  Going  out  again.  Lieutenant  Baker  aroused  his  escort,  who  had 
nearly  all  gone  to  sleep,  and  took  them  to  the  barn,  around  which  he  stationed 
them.  He  then  advanced  to  the  door,  and  knocking  with  the  butt  of  his 
revolver,  said,  "Booth,  we  want  you."  "Here  I  am,"  replied  the  assassin,  "who 
are  you,  Confederate  or  Yankee  ?"  Lieutenant  Baker  informed  him  who  he  was, 
and  summoned  him  to  surrender,  but  met  with  a  defiant  refusal. 

Quite  a  parley  ensued,  Harold  at  one  time  expressing  a  desire  to  surrender, 
which  Booth  rebuked,  denouncing  him  as  a  coward.  Booth  could  see  the  party 
outside,  through  the  cracks  of  the  barn,  but  they  could  not  see  him.  He  swore 
that  he  would  never  be  taken  alive,  and  declared  that  he  could  kill  at  least  five 
men,  and  then  kill  himself,  should  they  attempt  to  break  into  the  barn. 

The  Barn  Fired. 

At  last.  Lieutenant  Baker,  fearing  that  the  guerillas  and  the  paroled  Rebel 
soldiers,  with  whom  the  country  swarmed,  would  come  to  the  rescue,  posted  the 
cavalrymen  around  the  barn,  and  going  to  one  end  of  it,  which  was  filled  with  hay, 
pulled  some  through  a  crack  and  lighted  it.  The  flames  ran'up  the  crack  to  the 
top  of  the  hay-mow.  over  which  they  spread.  The  inside  of  the  biirn  was  now 
lighted  up, 

Wlien  Booth  first  saw  the  fire  he  clambered  up  on  the  mow,  and  vainly 
attempted  to  extinguish  it.  He  then  returned  to  his  position  on  the  floor,  be- 
tween the  two  doors,  with  his  back  against  the  hay-mow,  a  revolver  in  each  hand, 
and  a  Spencer  carbine  between  his  legs. 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OP  PRESIDENT  LINCQljN.  Ill 

Harold  Surrenders. 

Meanwhile,  the  soldiers  had  approached  the  barn,  and  Harold,  dropping  his 
pistol,  gave  himself  up,  receiving  Booth's  malediction  as  he  left  the  burning  barn. 

Death  of  Booth. 

Just  afterwards  the  roof  over  the  hay-mow  began  to  crack  as  if  it  was  falling 
in,  and  Booth  made  a  movement.  Some  of  those  who  were  watching  him  say 
that  he  was  about  to  kill  himself,  while  others  declare  that  he  was  intending  to 
break  out  and  escape.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Sergeant  Oorbett  had  a  sight  at  him 
through  a  wide  crack  with  his  cavalry  six-shooter,  and  pulled  trigger.  The  ball 
entered  about  where  the  President  was  shot,  but  passed  entirely  through  Booth's 
head.  The  murder  has  been  avenged.  "  It's  all  up  now,"  shrieked  Booth.  "  I'm 
gone,"  and  he  staggered  towards  the  door  of  the  barn.  Lieutenant  Baker  re- 
ceived him,  and  taking  him  from  the  blazing  barn,  laid  him  on  the  ground,  then 
sat  down  and  took  his  head  in  his  lap. 

Booth  did  not  deny  his  crime,  and  showed  no  signs  of  repentance  or  of 
humanity,  except  to  ask  Lieutenant  Dougherty  to  give  a  message  to  his  mother. 
His  death  was  not  easy,  but  at  three  minutes  after  seven  his  spirit  passed  away 
into  the  presence  of  an  avenging  God. 

Return  of  the  Escort. 
Nothing  remained  for  the  party  to  do  but  to  regain  their  steamboat  at  Belle 
Plain. 

How  Harold  was  taught  to  Walk. 

They  had  to  bring  Booth's  body  in  a  cart,  and  at  first  Harold  had  to  walk,  to 
which  he,  as  a  Maryland  gentleman,  objected,  but  after  a  rope  was  placed  around 
his  neck  with  a  slip  noose,  and  the  other  end  was  fastened  to  a  cavalryman's  sad- 
dle, he  started  off,  taking  good  care  that  the  rope  should  not  tighten. 

The  Remains  of  Booth. 

From  Belle  Plain  Lieutenant-Colonel  Conger,  rode  overland  to  Alexandria,  and 
reported  to  Colonel  Baker  yesterday  afternoon,  at  half-past  five. 

When  he  left  there  were  some  hopes  that  Booth's  wound  was  not  mortal. 

Colonel  Baker  went  to  Alexandria  to  meet  the  steamer,  and  since  then  the 
body  of  Booth,  by  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  has  remained  in  his  custody. 

Surgeon-General  Barnes,  with  an  assistant,  made  an  autopsy  on  the  remains 
tliis  afternoon.     Their  final  disposition  is  unknown  to  the  public  as  yet. 

Such  are  the  leading  events  of  the  escape,  pursuit,  and  arrest  of  the  assassin  of 
President  Lincoln,  obtained  from  unquestionable  resources. 

Of  course,  every  member  of  the  expedition,  civil  or  military,  regards  himself  as 
the  principal  agent,  and  some  wonderful  stories  are  told ;  but  what  I  have  stated 
may  be  relied  upon  as  correct. 

This  is,  however,  but  the  second  act  in  the  great  conspiracy,  the  first  act  of 
which  cost  us  our  President.     Other  arrests  have  been  made. 

Other  arrests  are  to  be  made,  and  in  due  time  the  public  will  learn  the  extent 
and  the  deliberate  wickedness  of  the  whole  crime.  They  will  also  see  that  much 
of  what  has  been  published  about  arrests  of  the  party  who  attacked  Secretary 
Seward  and  other  matters  are  bosh.  Colonel  Baker  has  detected  the  criminal, 
and  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  knows  the  facts  better  than  any  one  else,  gives  him 
the  credit. 

Appearance  of  the  Body. 

Booth's  moustache  had  been  cut  off  apparently  with  scissors,  and  his  beard 
allowed  to  grow,  changing  his  appearance  considerably.  His  hair  had  been  cut 
somewhat  shorter  than  he  usually  wore  it. 

Booth's  body,  which  we  have  before  described,  was  at  once  laid  out  on  a  bench, 
faid  a  guard  placed  over  it.  The  Hps  of  the  corpse  are  tightly  compressed,  and 
the  blood  has  settled  in  the  lower  part  of  the  face  and  neck.  Otherwise  the  face 
is  pale,  and  wears  a  wild,  haggard  look,  indicating  exposure  to  the  elements,  and 
a  rough  time  generally  in  his  skulking  flight.  His  hair  is  disarranged  and  dirty, 
and  apparently  had  not  been  combed  since  he  took  his  flight.  The  head  and 
breast  is  alone  exposed  to  view,  the  lower  portion  of  his  body,  including  the 
hands  and  feet,  being  covered  with  a  tarpaulin  thrown  over  it.  The  shot,  which 
terminated  his  accursed  life,  entered  on  the  left  side  at  the  back  of  the  neok,  a 


112  THE    ASSASSINATION   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

a  point,  curiously  enough,  not  far  distant  from  that  in  which  his  victim,  out 
lamented  I'resident,  was  shot. 

A  Spencer  carbine,  which  Booth  had  with  him  in  the  barn  at  the  time  he  was 
shot  by  Serjeant  Corbett,  and  a  large  knife,  with  blood  on  it,  supposed  to  be  the 
one  which  Booth  cut  Major  Rathbun  with  in  the  theatre  box  on  the  night  of  the 
murder  of  President  Lincoln,  and  which  was  found  on  Booth's  body,  have  been 
brought  to  the  city.  The  carbine  and  knife  are  now  in  the  possession  of  Colonel 
Baker,  at  his  office. 

Booth  had  upon  his  person  some  bills  of  exchange,  but  only  about  $175  in 
Treasury  notes. 

The  bills  of  exchange,  which  are  for  a  considerable  amount,  found  on  Booth's 
person,  were  drawn  on  banks  in  Canada  in  October  last.  About  that  time  Booth 
was  known  to  have  been  in  Canada. 

It  is  now  thought  that  Booth's  leg  was  fractured  in  jumping  from  the  box  in 
Ford's  Theatre  upon  the  stage,  and  not  by  the  falling  of  his  horse  while  en- 
deavoring to  make  his  escape,  as  was  at  first  supposed. 

The  Captured  Assassins. 

The  greatest  curiosity  is  manifested  to  view  the  body  of  the  murderer  Booth, 
wliich  yet  remains  on  the  gunboat  in  the  stream  ofif  the  Navy  Yard.  Thousands 
of  persons  visited  the  yard  to-day  in  hopes  of  getting  a  glimpse  at  the  murderer's 
remains,' but  none  were  allowed  to  enter  who  were  not  connected  with  the  yard. 
The  wildest  excitement  has  existed  here  all  day,  and  regrets  are  expressed  thai 
Booth  was  not  taken  alive. 

Sergeant  Corbett . 

It  is  said  that  in  pulling  the  trigger  upon  Booth,  he  sent  up  an  audible  petition 
for  the  soul  of  the  criminal. 

The  pistol  used  by  Corbett  was  the  regular  large-sized  cavalry  pistol.  He  was 
offered  a  thousand  dollars  this  morning  for  the  weapon  with  its  five  undischarged 
loads. 

An  Autopsy. 

This  afternoon,  Surgeon-General  Barnes,  with  an  assistant,  held  an  autopsy  on 
the  body  of  Booth. 

Booth  not  in  Rebel  Uniform. 

It  now  appears  that  Booth  and  Harold  had  on  clothing  which  was  originally 
of  some  other  color  than  the  Confederate  gray,  but  being  faded  and  dusty,  pre- 
sented that  appearance. 

Booth's  Mistress. 

The  news  of  Booth's  death  reached  the  ears  of  his  mistress  while  she  was  in  a 
f^treet  car,  which  caused  her  to  weep  bitterly,  and  drawing  a  photograph  likeness 
01  the  murderer  from  hei-  pocket,  kissed  it  fondly  several  times. 

The  Demeanor  of  Harold. 

Harold,  thus  far,  has  evaded  every  effort  to  be  drawn  into  conversation  by  those 
wlio  have  necessarily  come  in  contact  with  him  since  his  capture,  but  his  outward 
appearance  indicates  that  he  begins  to  realize  the  position  in  which  he  is  placed, 
and  that  there  is  no  escape  from  the  awful  doom  that  certainly  awaits  him.  His 
relations  and  friends,  in  this  city,  are  in  the  greatest  distress  over  the  disgra&e 
that  Ive  has  brought  upon  himself. 

Bowling  Green. 

Bowling  Green,  near  which  place  Booth  was  killed,  is  a  post  village,  the  capital 
of  Caroline  county.  Virginia,  on  the  road  from  Richmond  to  Fredericksburg, 
forty-five  miles  north  of  the  former,  and  is  situated  in  a  fertile  and  healthy  region. 
It  contains  two  .churches,  three  stores,  two  mills  and  about  three  hundred  inhabi- 
tants 


THB  ASSASSINATION   OP   PRBSIDENT   LINCOLN.  113 


TREATMENT    OP    TRAITORS. 

MARYLAND. 
Excitement  at  Westminster,  Md. 
On  Saturday,  on  the  reception  of  the  intelligence  at  Westminster,  Carroll 
county,  Md.,  of  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  the  most  intense  excite- 
ment ensued.  A  meeting  of  the  citizens  was  called  at  the  Court  House  at  eight 
o'clock  P.  M.,  which  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Shriver,  and  was  the  largest  and 
most  respectable  in  point  of  numbers  ever  held  in  the  town.  Great  bitterness 
of  feeling  was  expressed  against  Joseph  Shaw,  the  proprietor  of  the  Westminster 
Democrat,  a  paper  in  the  interest  of  the  rebellion,  on  account  of  remarks  made  in 
its  issue  of  last  week.  The  editor  said,  among  other  things,  "  Some  people  hope 
that  Lincoln's  life  will  be  spared  now,  in  order  that  the  country  may  be  saved  the 
disgrace  of  an  '  incoherent'  Vice-President.  But  is  there  not  a  slight  chance  of  im- 
provement in  case  that  Providence  should  will  it  otherwise  ?"  The  article  continued 
at  length  in  vituperative  language  against  both  the  President  and  Vice-President, 
such  as  the  rebel  sympathizers  have  so  frequently  indulged  in.  A  proposition 
was  made  in  the  meeting  to  destroy  the  office  of  the  paper,  but  more  moderato 
counsels  prevailed,  and  the  resolution  was  modiiied  to  the  effect  that  Shaw  be 
notified  that  the  Democrat  would  not  longer  be  permitted  to  be  issued  in  that 
town.  A  resolution  was  also  unanimously  adopted,  by  a  rising  vote  of  those 
present,  requiring  the  chairman  of  the  meeting  to  appoint  a  vigilance  committee 
for  Carroll  county,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  take  such  measures  as  would  prevent 
the  return  of  any  rebel  who  had  ever  borne  arms  against  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  that  county,  no  matter  whether  paroled  by  Gen.  Grant  or  any 
other  authority.  Every  person  who  has  ever  been  in  the  rebel  army  will  be 
forced  to  take  up  his  residence  elsewhere,  their  presence  being  considered  dan- 
gerous to  the  peace  of  the  community.  At  midnight,  long  after  the  meeting  ad- 
journed, the  office  of  the  Democrat  was  visited,  the  types,  cases,  printing  paper, 
in  fact  all  the  material,  were  taken  to  the  street  and  burned,  and  the  press,  stove, 
etc.,  in  the  building  Ufoken  with  axes,  crowbars,  etc.  Though  the  establishment 
was  completely  gutted,  the  building  itself  was  unharmed. 

Later— A  Disloyal  Editor  Killed  by  Citizens. 
Joseph  Shaw,  editor  of  the  Westminster  (Carroll  coxanty)  Democrat,  whose 
paper  was  mobbed  and  material  destroyed  the  night  after  the  murder  of  the 
President,  on  account  of  the  disloyal  sentiments  expressed  by  the  editor,  and  who 
was  also  warned  away  by  the  people,  returned  yesterday  to  Westminster.  Last 
night  he  was  again  waited  upon  by  a  delegation  of  citizens,  who  knocked  at  his 
door.  He  appeared  and  fired  into  the  crowd,  wounding  a  young  man  named 
Henry  Bell.     Upon  this  tlie  enraged  citizens  killed  Shaw  on  the  spot 

MAINE. 

Arrests  for  using  Offensive  Language. 

Two  women  on  the  train  from  Skowhegan,  expressed  themselves  in  an  offensive 
manner,  exulting  over  the  deed  of  murder.  On  their  arrival  in  this  city,  they 
were  quietly  delivered  over  to  a  squad  of  soldiers  sent  by  Colonel  Little,  at  the 
request  of  the  conductor,  and  lodged  in  jail.  Several  men  have  been  arrested 
here  for  like  hard  language,  and  placed  in  confinement.  One  would  have  fared 
bad  at  the  hands  of  the  soldiers,  but  for  the  interposition  of  the  police. 

NEW  YORK. 

Scenes  in  Poughkeepsie. 

Intense  excitement  prevailed  here  in  relation  to  the  national  disaster.  A 
woman  named  Frisbee  exulted  in  public  over  the  assassination  of  the  President, 
when  the  house,  in  Main  street,  in  which  she  resided,  was  immediately  surrounded 
by  several  hundred  infuriated  people,  who  demanded  her  immediate  arrest.  A 
young  man  named  Denton  interfered  with  the  mob,  when  he  was  immediately 
throttled,  and,  together  with  the  woman,  was  handed  over  to  the  authorities,  who 
lodged  them  in  jail.  This  being  accomplished,  the  populace  quietly  dispersed. 
The  city  is  draped  in  mourning,  ai.d  the  gloom  is  general. 


114  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT    LINCOLN. 

A  large  crowd  of  people  are  passing  up  Main  street,  escorting  a  well-known 
rebel  sympathizer,  whom  they  arc  compelling  to  carry  the  American  flag.  Stop- 
ping in  front  of  the  Eastman  College,  they  compelled  him  to  give  three  cheers 
lor  a  flag  which  floated  at  half-mast  over  it.  No  violence  was  used,  but  the  mob 
seemed  determined. 

SARATOGA. 

At  Saratoga,  Rev.  Dr.  Beecher  expelled  from  his  seminary  a  young  lady  pupil 
for  remarking  that  the  murder  of  Lincoln  made  Saturday  the  happiest  day  of  her 
life.  The  Doctor  says  that  no  person  with  such  sentiments  shall  sleep  under  his 
roof. 

A  workman  named  Neil  was  expelled  from  the  arsenal  on  Saturday,  for 
rejoicing.    The  other  employees  "  hustled  him  out" 

MASSACHUSETTS. 
A  Railroad  Superintendent  in  Difficulty. 

A  scene  occurred  to-day  in  our  city,  evincing  the  deep  feeling  of  our  entirs 
population  in  the  sad  affliction.  At  an  early  hour  in  the  forenoon,  it  was 
reported  that  Otis  Wright,  Superintendent  of  the  Lowell  Horse  Railroad,  had 
made  remarks  expressing  his  gratification  at  the  President's  death.  The  report 
soon  spread  over  the  city,  and  by  nine  o'clock  a  large  crowd  gathered  in  front  of 
the  Museum  Building  (the  office  of  the  company),  demanding  that  Mr.  Wright 
be  given  up  to  them.  The  Mayor  and  several  policemen  were  soon  on  the 
ground,  using  their  eS'orts  to  keep  back  the  crowd,  which  was  attempting  to  rush 
up-stairs.  Finally  the  Mayor  came  out  upon  the  awning  and  stated  that  Mr. 
AV right  would  make  an  explanation,  the  latter  making  his  appearance  with  an 
American  flag  in  his  hand.  The  crowd  refused  to  hear  him  at  first,  but  finally 
the  Mayor  secured  for  him  a  hearing,  when  Mr.  Wright  denied  that  he  had  made 
the  statement  atrributed  to  him.  This  did  not  satisfy.  A  gentleman  came 
forward  and  stated  that  Mr.  Wright  said  to  him,  when  informed  of  the  President's 
death,  "  Who's  fool  enough  to  kill  the  damned  old  fool  ?"  The  crowd  then  gave 
Mr.  Wright  half  an  hour  to  leave  the  city,  and  ere  that  time  he  was  on  his  way 
to  the  New  Hampshire  line- 
Traitor  Mobbed  at  Swampscott. 

On  reception  of  the  news,  one  George  Stone,  of  Swampscott,  said  in  public,  it 
was  the  best  news  we  had  received  for  four  years,  and  gave  three  cheers.  The 
citizens  and  soldiers  of  Swampscott  took  him  by  force  and  tarred  and  feathered 
him,  dragged  him  through  the  town  in  a  boat,  compelling  him  to  hold  the 
American  flag  over  his  head,  and  upon  promising  to  buy  an  American  flag  and 
keep  it  up  during  the  mourning  for  the  President,  at  half-mast,  he  was  set  at 
liberty. 

BOSTON. 

"Weymouth  after  the  Copperheads. 

On  Saturday  evening  last,  a  body  of  men  waited  upon  Elijah  Arnold,  of  East 
Braintree,  at  his  home,  forced  him  to  come  out,  make  a  speech,  wave  the 
American  flag,  and  give  three  cheers  for  the  Union.  He  had  uttered  treasonable 
sentiments,  and  was  compelled  to  retract  them. 

An  Indignant  Congregation. 

The  pulpit  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  a  neighboring  town,  was  supplied  yester- 
day by  a  stranger,  who,  in  all  kis  introductory  exercises  and  sermon,  never 
deigned  even  to  mention  our  national  calamity  in  the  death  of  our  good 
President.  Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  exercises,  a  resolution  was  passed 
by  the  congregation,  pointedly  condemning  liis  course,  and  giving  him  fifteen 
minutes  to  leave  town.  He  left  instanter.  This  was  in  Medway  village,  and  th» 
party  was  Rev.  Mr.  Massey,  of  Bellingham,  who  preached  there  by  exchange. 


THE  ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.  '      115 

MOBBING  A  REBEL  SYMPATHIZER  IN  PALL  RIVER  — HIS 
STORE  CLEATSTED  OUT  —  OTHER  OBNOXIOUS  PERSONS 
VISITED. 

On  receipt  of  the  melancholy  news  of  the  assassination  of  the  President,  and 
while  a  large  crowd  of  citizens  were  gathered  around  the  bulletin-boards  reading 
the  despatches  and  giving  expression  to  their  deep  and  most  heart-felt  sorrow,  a 
notorious  copperhead  secesh-sympathizeyf,  and  liquor  dealer,  named  Leonard 
Wood,  was  heard  to  declare  that  it  was  the  best  news  he  had  heard  for  forty 
■  years.  He  had  no  sooner  uttered  this  atrocious  sentiment,  than  he  was  seized 
by  the  indignant  bystanders,  struck,  booted  about  the  streets,  and  compelled  to 
go  into  a  store  to  procure  an  American  flag,  unfurl,  and  salute  it  with  three 
cheers.  He  then  marched  to  his  store,  where  he  locked  himself  in ;  but  the 
crowd  surrounded  his  place,  and  were  making  preparations  to  break  in,  when  the 
Mayor  and  City  Marshal  appeared  and  escorted  him  to  the  lock-up,  where  he  is 
now  confined.  The  crowd  then  returned  to  his  store,  stove  in  the  windows,  and 
smashed  things  generally.  They  then  visited  other  copperheads,  compelling  them 
to  show  the  American  flag. 

OHIO. 
Cleveland. 
It  seems  providentially  provided  for  that  some  villains  are  fools — so  great  fools 
that  they  parade  their  villainy  before  the  world.  Such  was  the  case  of  certain 
traitors  in  Cleveland  on  Saturday,  who  were  crazy  enough  to  express  their  joy 
at  the  murder  of  the  President,  and  received  therefor  some  very  rough  treatment 
— no  more,  however,  than  their  just  deserts. 

The  .case  of  J.  J.  Husband,  the  well-known  architect,  who  occupies  an  office 
and  rooms  over  Fogg's  store,  was  most  prominent.  He  was  in  high  glee  over  the 
news,  remarking  to  one  man,  "You  have  had  your  day  of  rejoicing,  now  I  have 
mine  !"  to  another,  "  This  is  a  good  day  for  me  1"  and  to  a  third,  that  "  Lincoln's 
death  was  a  d — d  small  loss  1"  It  seems  that  afterwards  he  became  sensible  of 
the  danger  he  had  incurred  by  these  remarks,  for  he  came  sneaking  to  the  news- 
paper offices  to  deny  that  he  had  made  them.  We  have,  however,  the  authority 
of  half  a  dozen  reliable  gentlemen,  who  heard  his  remarks,  against  his  unsup- 
ported assertion.  On  his  way  back  to  his  office  he  was  assaulted  by  the  crowd, 
but  escaped  from  them.  His  words  were  repeated  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  the 
indignation  of  the  multitude  knew  no  bounds.  The  crowd  searched  the  building 
for  him,  at  last  finding  him  on  the  roof  of  the  building-  He  was  caught,  thrown 
through  the  sky-light  into  his  room,  and  knocked  and  kicked  down-stairs.  The 
mob  then  set  upon  him,  and  would  perhaps  have  pounded  him  to  death  had  he 
not  been  rescued  by  prominent  citizens.  He  was  taken  to  the  court-house  and 
lacked  up  in  a  room  for  safe-keeping.  He  broke  out  and  sneaked  oif  during  the 
day,  and,  we  understand,  has  since  left  town.  He  can  never  show  his  face  again 
hi  Cleveland.  His  name  has  already  been  chipped  from  the  place  on  the  court- 
house where  it  was  cut  as  the  architect. 

Another  man,  named  James  Griffith,  from  Hamilton,  Butler  county,  in  this 
State,  arrived  in  town  Saturday  morning,  and,  on  hearing  of  the  news,  said  to  a 
barber  who  was  shaving  him  in  the  Weddell  House  barber-shop,  that  "  Lincoln 
was  a  d — d  son  of  a  b — h,  and  ought  to  have  been  shot  long  ago  1"  Hearing  of 
this  the  mob  started  after  him.  He  was  taken  charge  of  by  Clark  Warren  and 
others,  who  carried  him  to  the  jail.  On  the  way  there,  however,  the  mob  got  at 
him  and  pounded  him  badly.  He  is  now  in  jail,  and  ought  to  stay  there  for  a 
term  of  months. 

Another  traitor,  expressing  his  joy  on  Ontario  street,  Saturday  morning,  was 
Icnocked  stiff  by  a  little  fellow  half  his  size.  Other  men  of  southern  sympathies 
knew  enough  to  keep  closely  at  home  Saturday.  Cleveland  is  an  unhealthy  place 
for  rebels. 

CALIFORNIA. 

Onslaught  on  the  Newspaper  OiSees. 

The  news  of  Pi-esident  Lincoln's  assassination  created  the  most  intense  and 
imiversal  feeling  ever  witnessed  on  this  coast.  It  is  known  already  throughout 
tlie  State,  wherever  the  telegraph  extends,  and  everywhere  public  demonstrations 
of  grief  and  horror  prevail.  Business  has  been  entirely  suspended  here,  the  bells 
are  tolling  and  private  buildings  are  draped  in  mourning.     The  authorities  thought 


■■  \ 


116  THE   ASSASSINATION   OF    PRESIDENT   LINCOLN. 

it  prudent  to  take  precautions  against  poptilar  tumults  resulting  from  expressions 
of  joy  by  secessionists.  Several  treasonable  brawlers  were  saved  from  beinj^ 
lynched  by  the  police.  A  mob  has  just  entered  the  publication  oflices  of  the 
J )emocrat ic  Press,  News  Letter,  Monitor  and  Occidental,  copperhead  organs,  and 
emptied  their  contents  into  tlie  street,  amid  the  applaus^e  of  an  immense  crowd. 
A.  large  body  of  armed  police  were  ordered  out  to  disperse  the  mob,  but  arrived 
tuo  late  to  prevent  these  acts  of  violence.  Other  democratic  newspaper  offices 
are  threatened. 

Treatment  of  a  Taitor  at  Harrisburg. 

AVhen  the  news  reached  here  of  the  assassination  of  the  President,  a  man  on  the 
street  gloried  in  the  fact,  and  made  a  most  obscene  remark  in  regard  to  the  corpse. 
The  people  desired  to  treat  the  man  in  a  summary  manner,  but  a  guard  of  soldiers 
took  possession  of  him.  This  afternoon  he  was  marched  through  the  principal 
streets  to  the  tune  of  the  Rogue's  March,  holding  in  his  hand  a  board  willi  this 
in.scription :  "  William  Young,  a  traitor  too  cowardly  to  fight  for  the  Rebels, 
ejects  his  vulgar  venom  by  insulting  the  remains  of  our  dead  President." 

The  soldiers  desired  to  ride  him  on  a  rail,  but  the  ofiicers  would  not  allow  it. 

On  being  released  he  was  followed  by  a  large  crowd,  yelling  and  hooting  at  him, 
treating  him  rather  roughly. 

PHILADELPHIA. 
Carrying  Concealed  Deadly  Weapons. 

Edward  Ingersoll,  who  resides  near  Germantown,  was  arrested  yesterday 
morning  by  ofQcer  John  Jones,  on  the  charge  of  carrying  a  concealed  deadly 
weapon,  and  committing  an  assault  and  battery  on  Captain  J.  B.  Withington,  Jr.. 
still  suffering  from  a  wound  received  in  battle.  It  seems  that  the  defendant 
entered  a  car  on  the  9  o'clock  train  from  (a^ermantown,  at  Tioga  station.  A 
number  of  persons  called  him  a  traitor,  and  as  he  passed  into  the  smoking  car, 
several  gentlemen  remarking  that  the  presence  of  a  traitor  was  offensive,  he  left 
that  car.  The  train  finally  reached  the  depot,  and  defendant  alighted  at  Ninth 
and  Wallace  streets.  Captain  Withington,  of  the  198th  Regiment  Pennsylvania 
Volunteers,  stepped  forward,  and,  addressing  defendant,  said,  "You  ought  to 
apologize  for  your  remark  made  in  your  speech,  that,  the  Southerners  were 
chivalric  and  noble,  and  were  fighting  against  an  odious  tyranny."  It  is  alleged 
that  defendant  said,  "  Go  to  h — t"  Capt.  W.  raised  his  cane,  but  being  an  invalid 
could  not  use  it  with  alacrity.  He  made  a  blow  at  defendant  with  it,  and  1h« 
latter  warded  it  off  with  his  cane,  which  was  broken  by  the  force  of  the  blow. 
Instantly  defendant  presented  a  revolver,  and  in  a  moment  the  crowd  closed  hi 
upon  him.  OfBcer  Jones,  who  at  the  same  moment  was  attracted  to  the  spot^ 
took  Ingersoll  into  custody,  and  conducted  him  to  the  lockup  at  Spring  Garden 
Hall.  The  magistrate  was  sent  for,  and  the  liearing  progressed,  at  the  conclusion 
ftf  which  he  asked  the  defendant  if  lie  had  any  thing  to  say,  or  questions  to  ask. 
I)efendant  replied  that  he  pulled  tlie  pistol  out  and  cocked  it,  and  the  crowd  ran 
like  sheep. 

Some  one  said,  "You  are  a  liar,"  and  the  entire  body  of  spectators  made  a 
surge  towards  him,  but  nobody  was  hurt.  The  defendant  was  committed  in 
deiault  to  answer  the  charge  as'preferred  against  him.  He  had  only  received  a 
slight  scratch  on  his  face,  from  a  splinter  of  his  own  cane.  He  was  taken  to  the 
eounty  prison  yesterday  afternoon.  A  writ  of  habeas  corpus  will  probably  be 
taken  out,  made  returnable  to-morrow. 

This  fellow  has  made  himself  publicly  and  personally  odious,  by  his  treasonable 
speeches,  ever  since  the  rebellion  broke  out. 

Another  Scene. 

While  Edward  was  in  the  lockup  at  Spring  Garden  Hall,  he  was  visited  by  his 
brother  Charles.  Upon  retiring,  some  one  in  the  crowd  struck  him.  Charles 
hastened  to  his  carriage,  and  just  as  he  got  in  he  received  a  slight  blow  on  the 
head.  The  driver  put  the  whip  to  the  horses,  and  off  they  dashed  at  a  fast  speed. 
There  was  considerable  excitement  during  these  proceedings,  which  increased  as 
the  crowd  augmented,  but  there  was  no  general  outbreak.  We  understand  that 
a  young  man  quietly  procured  a  rope  that  had  a  slip-knot  already  made  in  the 
middle.  This  was  intended  to  be  placed  over  the  head  of  Ingersoll,  in  which 
event  he  would  probably  be  strangled  to  death.  His  arrest,  in  all  probability, 
saved  his  hfe,  as  nobody  seemed  desirous  to  interfere  with  him  while  he  was  in 
the  custody  of  the  law  officers. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  URBANA 

m  7L830T277  COOS 

THE  TERRIBLE  TRAGEDY  AT  WASHINGTON  PHIL 


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